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Apple Growing in the 
Pacific Northwest 



A Condensation of Lectures, Experiments and Discussions ] 
Conducted by the Educational Department 

of the 

Portland, Oregon, Young Men's Christian 

Association 



published bt 

The PoetlaNd, Oeegon 

Young Men's Chkistian Association 






Copyrighted 1911 

By 

Portland, Oregon 

Young Men's Christian Association 



^CI.A320S3l 



Contents 



Page 

Selection of Orchard Soils C. I. Lewis 7 

First Year in the Apple Orchard H. W. Sparks 17 

First Things in Apple Culture Chas. A. Cole 29 

IManagement of Orchard Soils C. C. Thom 41 

Varieties and Environment C. I. Lewis 49 

Building an Apple Tree A. I. ]Mason 69 

Development of Apple Trees "W. S. Thornber 82 

Pruning W. K. Newell 89 

Pcllinizing E.J. Krause 100 

The Best in Apple Culture H. M. Williamson 108 

Apple Tree Anthracnose H. S. Jackson 118 

Injurious Orchard Insects Hailey F. Wilson 126 

The Codling Moth A. B. Cordley 136 

Apple Scab and Crown Gall H. S. Jackson 146 

Poultry in an Apple Orchard H. L. Blanchard 156 

Packing Apples Ch as, A. Cole 178 

Organization for Marketing Apples H. C. Atwell 184 

The Process of Charpitting H. W. Sparks 197 

The Small Farm and How to Make It Pay. . James Withyccmbe . .'. .207 




Portland, Oregon 

Young Men's Christian Association 

Building in which the Lectures, Experiments and Discussions 

recorded in this book were conducted. 



Preface 



''Apple Growing in the Pacific Northwest" is the condensation of 
two years' work of the Educational Department of the Portland Young 
Men's Christian Association carried on under the name of the "Y. M. 
C. A. Apple Culture Club." 

These lectures are by the professors of the Washington and Oregon 
Agricultural Colleges, as well as practical apple growers and leading 
experts in the Pacific Northwest. We believe this means the leading 
authorities on apple culture in the world. 

A feature of special interest in this book to those who are or 
expect to be engaged in the apple-growing business, will be the ques- 
tions and answers at the close of each chapter. These are actual ques- 
tions and real answers stenographieally recorded during the discussions 
following the lectures. 

The lectures were attended by from two to four hundred apple 
enthusiasts every Saturday night. 

These lectures are placed in this book form by the Portland Asso- 
ciation for the purpose of placing in a permanent record this valuable 
store of expert information in respect to one of the rapidly growing 
industries of the Northwest, 

The Portland Association has taken a deep interest in the industrial 
and agricultural life of this section. Schools in Plumbing, Automobile, 
Mining and Assaying, Pharmacy, Carpentry and Electricity, as well 
as some fifty other commercial and industrial subjects are conducted. 
Large contests have been promoted in poultry and potato growing. 

This book is simply another effort on the part of the Association 
to help in the constructive development of the Pacific Northwest. 

W. M. Ladd, President. 

H. W. Stone, General Secretary. 

R. C. French, Educational Secretary. 







A famous four-year-old Ortley Apple tree. Hood River Valley, Oregon. The photograph 

from which this engraving was made attracted unusual attention on 

account of the size, age of the tree and perfection of the apples. 




Selection of Orchard Soils 

By C. I. Lewis, of the Oregon Agricultural College. 

HE subject of my lecture is, "Orchard 
Soils, Their Selection, Tillage and Fertil- 
ity. ' ' I want to take you first over West- 
ern Oregon Soils, taking the Cascade 
Mountains as the dividing line. All of 
Eastern Oregon is volcanic ash soil. It 
runs from sand to coarse gravel and the 
alluvial soils. 

The Grand Ronde Valley is in a state 
of alluvial soil, which is very fertile. Un- 
der these conditions, one will have the 
most success after a very rainy season. Freewater. near Walla Walla 
Valley, has about as much fruit land as the Hood River Valley, but 
because there have been only small orchards there with about fifteen 
or twenty varieties in one orchard, we have not heard so much 
of it. The greater part of the soil is volcanic ash, which is very sandy 
and is excellent for pears and peaches. Now comes the Umatilla Valley. 
We have an experimental station there and find that the soil will grow 
pears better than any other soil. The Dalles Valley grows peaches and 
grapes, and it may grow good apples, but the best fruits to grow on this 
soil are peaches and grapes, because there are only about seven inches 
of rainfall there. In Eastern Oregon there is water to irrigate with, a 
condition unlike that of Western Oregon. One can grow peaches, 
cherries, apples and pears on the same soil under irrigation. Of course, 
there are a very few men that can make a success of growing so many 
different fruits on the same piece of land for the reason that pears need 
irrigating at a different time from apples, and the same way with the 
others ; they all need irrigating at different times, so it is a hard propo- 
sition to grow the different fruits on the same piece of irrigated land, 
and I do not think it will very likely be done, although one may get 
some very good results. Taking the Hood River Valley into considera- 
tion, there are about ^even types of soil : gravel loam, typical volcanic 
ash, etc. 

Now we come to the Willamette Valley. It covers an area of 160 
miles one way and from 35 to 60 miles the other way, with an elevation 



8 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

of 100 feet up to snow line. We will begin at the lowest point and 
work up. This lowest part is known as the river bench soil. Some of 
these soils are the richest in Oregon, being deepest near the river. 
They are, as a whole, ideal peach soils, and grow the best peaches in 
the Northwest. I do not know why more peaches are not raised here : 
there is no reason for not doing so. The early frosts do not hurt peaches 
as they do apples. There is an orchard in this valley 20 years of age, 
and the owner told me that he got three crops in five years, which is 
considered very good. The soil is a silver sand loam, which is known 
to be very excellent, especially, as I have said, for peaches. Apples 
may not do as well because they are subject to the early frosts, but 
some of this may develop into very fine apple and pear soil in time. 
Some of the finest bearing trees have been found on this silver sand 
loam and some splendid Yellow Newtown orchards are also to be found 
there. One thing you want to be careful of when you select your soil, 
and that is the sudden drop from high to low elevation. Where you 
find these drops, you may be pretty sure of frost. The Cornice pears do 
very well there. These pears come into bearing late, and are very shy 
bearers, but do excellently well in the Willamette Valley. Of course, 
these are also subject to frost. A frost in April would be detrimental 
to the apple and pear, while it would not hurt the peach. That is what 
makes it better peach land, or at least, is one of the reasons. 

Then there is what is ordinarily known as the White Land, which 
include parts of Linn, Marion and Benton Counties. The soil is rather 
white in color and is therefore known as the White Land. This soil is 
generally very deep and has good drainage. There is no reason why it 
should not be good fruit land, because around the farm houses one will 
find fruit trees which seem to do very well. This may be on account 
of the building changing the drainage, or generally giving the soil a 
better drainage. These soils as a rule are very deep ; I remember 
making one boring with a one-half inch auger and went down 15 feet 
and still found good soil. This soil is strong in character, but would 
have to be greatly improved for fruitgrowing. It is generally consid- 
ered to be free from frosts. 

Next comes the clay loam, which is just above the white land. 
These clay lands constitute the rolling lands of the valley. They are 
the prime fruit lands of the valley, judging from the orchards growing 
on the soil. The best orchards so far have come from these soils. 

Then come the hill lands or the red lands. There are several kinds 
of red lands of which some may grow nothing, while others are some of 
the very best. Some of the richest lands we have in the State are red 
lands. There are the foothills and the table lands. The foothills are 
considered especially good on the south and west sides. If one wants to 



SELECTION OF ORCHARD SOILS 



be sure he has a good deep soil ; get a four-foot auger and bore a hole 
in the ground, and if one can go four feet, it will be deep enough. 
Sometimes even the north and east side of the same hills are very rich. 
This is very true of the foothills of the Coast Range Mountains. There 
are thousands and thousands of acres of rolling land which would make 
typical orchards. Of course, with good soil, one Avants to get all the 
other conditions. Good soil alone will not make a good orchard. 

Next we have the Umpqua Valley. The bottom lands are known as 
being splendid apple and pear lands. The soil is alluvial here. 

One may get the best soil in Oregon and then make a failure of 
growing apples. All things should be taken into consideration — all the 
necessary conditions. One wants to see that he has good loam, good 
soil, drainage, sufficient depth, and see that it is not subject to 
strong winds. One wants to choose a location where he will not get all 
the east winds for his orchard, but probably the most important thing 
is the depth. The soil should also have plenty of nitrogen, but that may 
be easily supplied, and the common Oregon vetch is very good for that. 
Therefore, if one has vetch he can always have nitrogen. It is one thing 
to choose land that will grow any tree, and another thing to grow 
trees that will bear for 20 to 30 years. Trees can be grown on five or 
six inches of soil, but they will last or bear only about five, six or seven 
years. It is easier to grow fruit on shallow soil where it is irrigated 
than where it is unirrigated, because the irrigation always supplies the 
fruit with water and if unirrigated soil is shallow it will dry out very 
quickly. 

The way to find whether one has depth or not is to get a common 
auger and bore holes all over the ground. Four feet is generally known 
to be deep enough, while three feet might do. In going over the land 
one must look for a drop ; if there is any rock you will find it there. Of 
course, we need not expect to find the same depth all over the place 
because sometimes there is a difference of a few feet and one must 
always expect to find some parts of a tract of land which he cannot 
use. Besides looking for good depth one wants to get land that has 
good air and soil drainage. Land that is generally rolling is mostly 
well drained. That is one point to remember. One of the most com- 
mon stones that one strikes in looking for depth in Oregon is soapstone. 
Do not get land that has soapstone near the surface. Sometimes this 
soapstone is well disintegrated, in which case the roots will penetrate 
it, but more often it is not. so one wants to look out for soapstone. 

Different kinds oY apples and pears take different kinds of soil. 
Pears will generally thrive on lighter soils than apples. The Winter 
Nellis pears require the deepest and richest of soil. The Spitzenberg 
apple requires more attention than any other apple and probably does 



SELECTION OF ORCHARD SOILS 11 

best on very heavy soil, such as clay sand loam. If one is going to 
plant a Spitzenberg apple orchard he will have to make up his mind 
beforehand to live with his trees, because they need more petting and 
attention than any other apple, not only when they are young, but 
all through their life. The more one fondles and pets them the better 
trees he will have. The Northern Spy is an apple that should not be 
grown on the very heaviest of soils. In fact, the lighter the soil the 
better the apple. If put in heavy soil it grows very rank and comes in 
bearing very late. If put in lighter soil it grows better, that is, it 
spreads out and comes into bearing earlier, and it is more tender and 
has a better color. It is one of the best apples in Oregon if grown 
right. 

Another thing that one wants to be very carefid about is very 
good drainage, insuring a less amount of moisture and frosts. I Avant 
to call your attention to the lands on the side of the foothills. You 
will mostly find them well drained. I want you to understand that 
when I say good drainage, I do not mean land that never has any 
water on it. One will find some prime apple and pear lands that are 
under water all winter. This is especially true in parts of Oregon 
where Ave have three or four months of winter rain, but that water 
must be removed A^ery regularly in the early Spring or as soon as 
possible. Some of the best lands in Oregon are of that type. 

Where Trees Can Be Grown. 

Another point to be looked out for is seepage Avater. You AAnll 
find it mostly on the sides of the hills. I have come across a number 
of soils that from outward appearances look all right, but when I AA^ent 
in a short distance I found that the ground Avas soaked. I remember 
one instance Avhere a man had a Avell 27 feet deep that had about 17 
feet of Avater in August. Another place Ave Avent seven feet and had 
betAveen three and four feet of Avater, and I have struck Avater at 
three and one-half feet. This Avater comes from the hills and seeps 
doAvn through the ground and keeps the roots cool. Trees Avill not 
grow Avell under these conditions. It is not ahvays at the top of the 
soil ; sometimes it is doAvn four or fiA'e feet. 

HoAV should soil be used to get the best results? The first thing 
is to Avork the soil deep, thus forming a reserA'oir Avhich keeps the 
Avinter moisture in it. A good method for doing this is clean culture. 
It means good ploAving, deep harrowing in spring until it is in a good 
condition, then in the summer months go OA'er it again and again Avith 
some shalloAV instrument until the soil is like dust. In this Avay the 
moisture Avill be retained. For example : take a plank, even in sum- 



12 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

mer time when it is hot, under that plank cne will find that the 
ground is a little moist ; that is the way it is with the orchard soil. 
The more one works it the finer it gets, and it acts as the plank does 
on the soil beneath, thereby keeping it moist. 

In winter the soil is supplied with water, maybe three or four 
times what it needs, and there must be a way to keep part of the water 
in the soil for the time of the year when it will be needed. It should 
not go out into the atmosphere unless it goes out through the plant. I 
have had people tell me that they w^orked their orchard 12 and 18 
times in one summer and made a success of it, so no matter how many 
times one has to w^ork it he must do so until he is sure he is going 
to hold the moisture. Get a good implement to work with. Don't 
get something that is not practicable. 

One of the best results of good cultivation is the size of the apple. 
If one does not work the soil and it is dried cut before the first of 
August, his apples are bound to be small and irregular in size. Be- 
sides that, there is the difference of color. If one has not necessary 
moisture when he wants it his apples are apt to be dull in color and not 
bright as they ought to be. Furthermore, the fruit will not have the 
form it would have otherwise; keep that reservoir for the summer 
supply. The three essential reasons for so doing are : first, size ; sec- 
one, form ; and, third, color. 

Now another mistake that so many people make is that they till 
their orchard for the first two or three years, until it gets well started, 
and when the trees need it most neglect it, and then they are surprised 
because they did not make it a success. 

Another trouble is that most people cultivate their orchards too 
long, or keep up the tillage too long — too late in the season. Their 
orchard ought to be sufficiently cultivated by August 1 every year. 
It should have been cultivated at least three or four times by the 
middle of August at the latest. Some people cultivate their orchards 
until October, which is entirely too long. In some soils one should do 
just the opposite. That is true of the sandy soil or volcanic ash soils. 
The clay and heavy soils have to be plowed and harrowed over and over 
until they are fine, but the sandy soils are already fine and do not need 
so much cultivation. Be sure to get the right kind of an instrument to 
work with. I have seen people use an implement which required five 
or six horses, whereas a man with a harrow or a roller could have done 
much better. j\Iany people use the clod masher, which I believe is 
very good — probably the best I have ever seen. Make it in two sec- 
tions and in that Avay it will not only mash the lumps in the ground, 
but will make the ground fine, even and smooth, as it should be. 



SELECTIOX OF ORCHARD SOILS 13 

I will next take up diversified, farming. If a man has 20 or 30 
acres of land in orchard, it will take much work to attend to it prop- 
erly. When plowing time comes, do not put off plowing a week or 
ten days. So it is with pruning and spraying; it has to be done at the 
right time. When a man has all his farming to do, he will be bound 
to have everything come at once and will have to postpone something 
and is likely not to make a success of anything. Do not try to do 
orcharding and farming at the same time. Of course the one advan- 
tage is that one has the fertilizer, but if he wants it he can buy it. As 
that would be too expensive for most of us some other way must be 
found, and that way is by cover crops. These cover crops should be 
put in early, in the fall and should grow all winter and be plowed 
under as soon as the sap begins to come in the spring. Now remem- 
ber, I did not say to cut off and feed to the cows in the spring. Plow 
under in the spring. This will make better tillage possible and help 
the soil hold moisture, and the main point is that it makes the soil 
richer. It will furnish plant food and nitrogen which the trees need. 

We have tried experiments as to what will do best for this cover 
crop and have now practically decided between the hairy vetch and the 
Oregon vetch and rye. I believe the Oregon vetch and rye is all one 
will want. Do not get it in any later than the last of August or the 
first of September. I did not say the first of October. Use the ordi- 
nary seeder for putting it in before the first rain comes, so that it will 
get a good start right away. The higher it gets the better it will be. 
Put in about 40 pounds of vetch seed and 10 pounds of rye seed to the 
acre. The land should not be plowed in the fall. Plow just as soon 
as the sap begins to come in the spring. If one uses this cover crop 
he will not need very much fertilizer, if any, for his trees will then 
make a strong, healthy growth. There are very few orchards that are 
not benefited by cover crops. The two I have spoken of can be recom- 
mended for western Oregon. Vetch makes most land very rich, and 
that is why it is so good for a cover crop. In some places they use the 
cowhorn turnip, and rape. Use about 20 pounds of the rape and 10 
pounds of turnip per acre. This takes up the potash and makes it 
beneficial to the plant. They take nothing from the air, but simply 
take up the potash, conveying it into such form as will make the trees 
strong and sturdy. 

Now just a little about fertilizers. I believe that when the time 
comes for the crops, if by investing $10 one can save 8 or 10 per cent 
he will do so. Consider the sort of fertilizer your land needs. If 
something is put on which the land does not need, it may do more 
harm than good. Make the experiment yourself. Take three blocks 



SELECTION OF ORCHARD SOILS 15 

on the first one put phosphorous, on another put potash, and on the 
third put both together. In this way one will know just what his soil 
needs and can apply it to the trees. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Why do you put the rj'e in the cover crop? 

A. To help hold the vetch up. Ten pounds of rye to the 40 
pounds of vetch is all you will need. 

Q. How can one determine the depth of the soil? 

A. I W'Ould take a four-foot augur and make a boring of four feet 
at least. In some places the soil simply changes color and in others 
you will strike rock or soapstone or cement gravel or some other form. 
If you bore four feet and find the same kind of soil for that depth it 
will be all you want. 

Q. How are you going to tell if it is good for growing trees? 

A. If vegetables and wheat grow well the land is likely to bo 
good for apples. You can tell a little from some old trees on the land. 
Where you find fir trees you will usually have good land. 

Q. Does land plaster make a good fertilizer? 

A. I would hardily recommend land plaster. It is like giving 
whiskey to a boy. It stimulates the trees. 

Q. In the different soils would you advise any difference in the 
distance of the trees? 

A. Well, not harldy, but in the heavy soils you might plant them 
a little closer than in the other. 

Q. What variety of pears would you recommend for the Willam- 
ette Valley ? 

A. Bartlett, Comice, Anjou and Winter Nellis pears would all do 
well, I believe. 

Q. What distance apart would you plant the trees? 

A. About 30 feet. 

Q. How would pears do near Estacada? _ 

A. I see no reason why they should not do well. 

Q. What do you think of the Greening? 

A. The Greening does not do nearly as well here as in the Eastern 
States. They can ship better Greenings here than we can grow. 

Q. How is the Kusset ? 

A. There are so few trees here, that I can tell nothing about them. 

Q. What do you think of the dwarf pear as a commercial pear? 

A. I think it will be in great demand before long and there is no 
reason why an orchard should not be valuable. 



16 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



Q. What kind of crop would you put on land just grubbed off to 
grow until the spring of 1912? 

A. I would grow potatoes or other vegetables. 

Q. Would you raise corn on that land? 

A. I would not advise you to raise corn. 

Q. Would you advise putting in any crops at all on new land just 
grubbed ? 

A. No, I believe I would not. Still we always do, but when we 
put out our experimental orchards we always put a crop in. We 
even have an orchard where the stumps are not all out yet. Just take 
out enough stumps to plant the trees and take the remaining stumps 
out as you go. 

Q. What is the character of the soil on the Sheridan hills? 

A. It is mostly red clay loam. 





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First Year in the Apple Orchard 

H. W. Sparks, of the Washington State College. 

I BELIEVE that the principal factor in successful horticulture is 
the man himself. I would tell any one if he does not like the 
business sufficiently to give it his undivided attention, not to 
attempt it. One can fail in that business as well as in any other. 
There is nothing in the art of raising fruit that is difficult to learn, 
but like everything else of that kind, it requires special attention. 

The next factor is to find a location where the soil, climatic con- 
ditions, market conditions and transportation facilities are right. These 
are all important factors. One of the first requirements of the soil 
is that it is well-drained. The location should be a little higher than 
the surrounding country. Low places are inclined to be frosty. There 
are other conditions beside elevation that make the difference between 
a frosty, underisable place and one desirable. Sometimes low places 
are situated near a body of water that keeps off the frosts, and some- 
times air currents come through mountain passes. Go out over the 
land where you are considering planting an orchard on a frosty morn- 
ing and see if the frost is heavy. I do not think the difference in soils 
is known as it should be ; but, as a rule, avoid heavy, low soils. These 
black, humid soils are inclined to produce too much wood growth. 
The volcanic-ash soils are the best. There are tracts of this soil 
throughout this state and Washington. Sandy loam soils are sometimes 
very good, but there is such a difference in the soils that it is hard 
to say generally which is best. In all these matters one should be 
governed largely by his surroundings. If one has an orchard that is 
doing w^ell and seems to be in a healthy condition, he can rest assured 
that the soil is good in that locality. 

Proximity to Market. 

Th« next consideration is proximity to market. One can be lo- 
cated too far from transportation, and often the difference of a few 
•cents makes the difference between success and failure in fruit-grow- 
ing. That rule cannot be applied too strictly, because districts that 
are removed today, in three, four or five years from now may not be. 
What might not be valuable for orchard-planting noAv in four or five 



18 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




Yellow Newtown Apples grown in the Rogue River VallcN . ik.^mh. 

years may be. As a rule, one should have a shipping point sufficiently 
close to deliver two loads at least in a day. 

The next great question to decide is what varieties to plant. One 
can be governed by what has proven successful in a district, what is 
bringing the highest price, what is in best demand. I will not under- 
take to name any of the varieties because of the varying conditions 
found in apples doing well in one place and not in another. 

Best Kinds to Plant. 



In Western Washington and Oregon we should not undertake to 
compete with those places east of the Cascade Mountains in highly 
colored fruits. There are many fruits that do not require color to 
sell. I well mention a few. I would put at the head of the list the 
Gravenstein. Of course this is not a winter apple. It is standard in 
quality and has many desirable features, which make it the best of 
all apples. It is not only an eating apple, but is the best of cooking 
apples, and is better for canning than any other. Next to the Graven- 



FIRST YEAR IN THE APPLE ORCHARD 19 

stein in Western Washington and Oregon comes the King. This has 
good quality in many respects and sells Avell. Next to the King is 
the Northern Spy, which I think is the most valuable apple there is 
for west-side conditions generally. When I speak of the west-side con- 
ditions, I mean in comparison with the Hood River country east of the 
Cascade Mountains. There is one objection to the Northern Spy. It 
is a tardy bearer. I believe this fact can be overcome by the right kind 
of pruning. I have brought it into bearing in five j'ears, and am satis- 
fied that by right methods it can be brought into bearing early enough. 
Coming next in order is the Olympia Red, which is an apple of good 
color and quality. There is one fact about the Northern Sp3' whicli 
seems to be true of the Olympia Red. It seems to stand the black- 
spot canker better than any other variety. Black-spot canker is one 
of the pests we have to combat with on the west side. The BellfloAver 
is also a good apple, but is not so marketable. It is desirable for home 
use. The Ortley is also good. There is another apple that should ])e 
planted more than it is. That is the Grimes Golden. This is one of the 
standard varieties that does not require color to sell. 

Get the Right Tree. 

The next thing is to select the trees to l)e planted. This matter 
is so important that I would rather pay a dollar, if necessary, for 
the right tree, than to get a poor one for nothing. If we make mis- 
takes in the variety of fruit or kind of trees we plant, it may take 
five, six or seven years before this mistake can be overcome. It is not 
like dairying or poultry raising, where we can correct a mistake in 
a year or two. A tree that is well grown, and has matured naturally 
in the ground and not ])een forced in any way, has stronger vitality, 
starts out cpiicker, and makes a better tree than a weak one. I am 
going to explain just how you can tell a tree that has strong vitality. 
I prefer a three or four-foot yearling tree. I would rather pay an 
extra dollar, or five dollars, for a tree of that kind. The three or four- 
foot yearling tree that is well grown will be quite strong at the bottom, 
and all the way from the bottom to the very end terminal bud the 
buds are well developed. If the tree has matured naturally and has 
plenty of vitality, lying around each of the buds will be a little swelling. 

The digested sap is started in the formation of starch right arovind 
the bud in the spring. As soon as the climatic conditions are right, 
and a few of the sun's rays strike this bark, the activity begins in 
the starch and that causes the leaf to grow out. As the leaf grows 
it makes demand for sap which comes up through the sap wood. 

The first start of a tree depends upon the starch stored around the 



20 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

bud. Be sure and get a tree that lias this indication. Sometimes 
nurserymen in order to fill early fall orders, strip all the leaves off the 
tree to make it mature early. In such cases there would not be the 
storage of starch around the base of each bud. This storage of starch 
begins when the climatic conditions are right, when there have 
been a few frosts, and the indications of coming winter appear. The 
tree by nature has had warning of this end of the season, and the 
starch is stored there for the next spring's start. If the foliage has 
been stripped off early, or has been irrigated and forced along, the 
starch will not be there. I sometimes advise people to grow their 
own trees, or have them grown for you by a nurseryman. That is 
the best method to get right trees. I would suggest that you com- 
mence in time to select your scions growing in the district where you 
intend to plant. Select them from the very best bearing trees you 
can find. Graft these scions on to the roots yourself, or have your 
nurseryman do so, then you will be sure not only to have a good tree, 
but to have the tree you want. Sometimes nurserymmen are careless 
and send out trees that one does not order, and sometimes this is done 
purposely, so if you grow trees you can be sure to have the trees you 
want. It may take several years. 

Preparing the Ground. 

Have your ground plowed and well harrowed. Give the ground 
as good preparation as possible. I have heard a great many say they 
would not plant an orchard until the land was thoroughly prepared. 
I have cleared the ground and planted trees the same year with suc- 
cess. I would rather plant as soon as the land is cleared rather than 
wait two or three years to prepare the soil. 

The next thing is to stake out the field. If the land is rough 
it is quite difficult to get it exact without surveyor's instruments, but 
one can get very good results in rough ground. First run a line at 
some point where you can get as near a level as possible, and then 
line right through. I have found it convenient to have all stakes pre- 
pared. I first split up some stove wood 18 inches long. The stakes 
need not be larger than half an inch square. After they have been 
pointed a little, mix some lime in water, making a thin white wash, 
ihen dip the top end into the whitewash. This makes them easy to see. 

As a general thing trees are planted too close together. If I were 
planting an orchard today I would not plant trees nearer than 30 feet 
apart. Take a soft piece of wire and make it just 60 feet long. 
Put a mark at the center of the wire. The man at the rear stake, 
looking at the stake across the field sets this 30-foot stake at the mark 




Branch of the Winter Banana Apple grown in the Hood River Vallev, Oregon. 

This apple is at present the most expensive grown, commanding 

in the East as high as 25 cents apiece. 



22 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

on the wire, and at 60 feet as he advances. He always has two stakes 
to look across, and the third stake at the end of the row. The reason 
for two stakes is that on uneven ground the end stake can be seen. 
When two stakes are used one can go considerable distance and not be 
much out of line. Sighting across the field, next establish a line at 
right angles with the first. For the benefit of those who do not know 
exactly how to do that, I will state a very simple method. Go out six 
feet on one of these lines and eight feet the other way and it will be 
exactly 10 feet across that angle. Then you can be sure you have an 
exact right angle every time. 

Setting the Trees. 

After the land is staked make a planting board about four feet 
long with a notch in each end, and one in the center. When ready to 
plant put this center notch over one of the stakes, and then put a 
stake in each one of the end notches and take up the stake where the 
tree is to go, and dig a hole. Set the two stakes back and put the tree 
in the notch in the center. The tree will then lie where the stake was. 
One does not have to look in either direction. This is the most simple 
method that I have used. I have planted large tracts by this method. 
It works so perfectly that one could not notice but what it was exact. 

When digging a hole for planting be governed about the depth 
of the hole by the nature of the soil. I would not dig as deep a hole 
in heavy soil as in light soil. Set the tree, when it is planted, about 
an inch or two deeper than it was when in the nursery. Before set- 
ting out a tree, I would prune each root. I would not want to plant 
any tree that did not have from three to five strong roots, lateral 
roots, running out each way from the main stem. I would not plant 
a tree that had roots on one side. That tree would not be feeding 
evenly from the ground. Prune off each root that will not grow, if 
not more than two inches is left. I would not care to have more 
than 4, 5, or 6 inches of the root left. Prune them off on the lower side 
with a good sharp knife, making a long cut. When the tree has been 
placed in the hole and some soil put around on top of the roots, get 
into the hole and tramp the soil down hard with both feet. Just as 
soon as the leaves have started and the demand for sap begins there 
is a flow of sap. 

If you have any reason to believe that the soil is not rich enough, 
use a little nitrate of soda right around the roots of the tree. A half 
a pound or less will make a wonderful difference. It is as essential 
that one has a good start in a tree as it is for him to have a good start 
with a pig or calf. 



FIRST YEAR IX THE APPLE ORCHARD 23 

At this point I might tell von of my own experience in planting 
fruit trees. I had several varieties, and had prepared the land in such 
a way that I had not cleared off the full extent that I wanted to 
plant on. I ordered a certain number of each variety. I had a little 
pride in the matter, and wanted my orchard to appear the best it could. 
I selected the trees, taking the best variety, and setting the best trees 
next to the road where they would show the most. In after years, 1 
do not think one of those trees at the end of the row survived. They 
were weak, attacked by insect pests and climatic conditions, but every 
one of the first choice trees produced a good tree, and I believe 
that the first third of each one of those rows produced more fruit 
than the remaining two-thirds. My wife had considerable poultry and 
we saved the droppings all through the winter, keeping them in bar- 
rels so that nothing w^as lost. We also saved wood ashes gathered 
from the burning log heaps and mixed them together and used them 
around the trees, and we got just as good results as with nitrate of 
soda. Then put on your surface soil. Do much packing, so that it 
will not liake or dry out. 

The next thing to determine after the trees are planted is what 
top to start the tree with. There are many places wdiere a head rea- 
sonably high is much better than a low head. The tree needs plenty 
of sunshine. Damp weather and misty conditions are conducive to 
fungus and black spot canker. These pests seem to thrive under these 
conditions. The sunshine will dry them up and kill them. Where 
there is not enough sunshine the trees .should be headed up high 
enough so the air will circulate freely around under the tree and the 
sun get down there once in a while. This makes it much easier to 
cultivate. Having decided the heads of the trees after they are planted, 
cut them all off uniformly to that height. If there is a strong pre- 
vailing wind, set the trees on the slant a few degrees toward the wind. 

I do not know that there is any other method that wull do as much 
as cultivating the land. I believe it is just as well to put in some 
kind of a crop, but never a grain crop. I have seen a number of fairly 
good orchards and as soon as they get a little too much seeded down 
to clover, they never did as well. Be careful to take care of an orchard 
from the start. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Is the present time a good time to set trees (February) ? 
A. If the ground is in good condition and can be worked. I would 
suggest that you book your order for trees early. Get your trees home 



FIRST YEAR IN THE APPLE ORCHARD 25 

as early as yon can. I would stipulate not to have the trees forced in 
the growth. Bury them, heel them in. 

Q. If you planted trees this time of year, would you cut the 
tops off. Are you not liable to trouble from insect pests? 

A. To your last question, yes. I never at least experienced any 
Avith healthy trees. There is sometimes difficulty with the skip jack 
beetle, which climbs up the tree and eats the buds. They are not par- 
ticular what bud they find, so one cannot guard against them very 
well without dipping in arsenic. 

Q. Y\/'hat is your observation about dwarf apples and pears? 

A. For fillers? I think they are all right. Plant as fillers those 
varieties of apples or pears that come into bearing early. We have 
some varieties that are noted for their early bearing qualities, and I 
think it a good plan in planting trees to plant in a few here and 
there, one in ten is a good rule to follow. 

Q. Have you tried burning cedar stumps out by char-pitting? 

A. I have only had a limited experience in that. I tried one 
cedar stump in the winter time when it was very wet, and I failed. 

Q. Does your bulletin give full information about char-pitting? 

A. Yes, the bulletin is written and has been published in the State 
of Washington and by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Q. How does char-pitting work upon green stumps? 

A. My experience has been limited; I have to rely upon what 
others tell me. I have met several who have had success. They say 
that after a green stump is fired once it burns better than old stmups. 
In burning green stumps chop through the sap wood to get the fire 
into the interior. 

Q. How will it work on extra heavy, wet ground? 

A. All this winter I have not stopped for wet ground. Of course 
if you were burning in soil that would soon become saturated to the 
extent that water would stand in holes, it would not be likely to work, 
but with a soil that will drain reasonably well it will not make any 
difference how wet it is. 

Q. What varieties would you use for fillers? 

A. The Jonathan is good. The Wagener and Pearmain are good 
fillers. 

Q. What do you mean by a filler? 

A. A filler is a tree between the other trees. Sometimes they 
are put between the other trees as a temporary tree to occupy the 
ground until they are too large, then that filler is supposed to be re- 
moved. They are just temporary until the space is needed by the per- 
manent tree. 



26 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

Q. What system for shading the tree would you suggest? Which 
is the most desirable, a shingle, white-washing, or the Yucca palm? 

A, Whitewash is all right in some places where the heat is not 
too intense. The simplest method is the shingle. Sometimes' a piece 
of paper is wrapped around the tree and brought down to the ground 
a little below the surface, and is then kept in place by a clod of dirt. 
That is a very good protection against borers, which sometimes are 
very bad. Whitewash is also good for borers, but I would add a 
little carbolic acid. 

Q. Have you planted trees among stumps? 

A. I have, but I would not plant a tree too close to one that I 
wanted to burn. A stump can be burned by the char-pitting method, 
by taking good care, right up close to a building, but it gets pretty 
hot down there in the ground. 

Q. How often do you spray your trees? 

A. I spray the young trees only when it is needed. When a pest 
appears, spray it. There is one exception ; the trees west of the 
mountains should be sprayed at least every fall about the time the 
leaves are dropping, to prevent the black scab canker. Spray every 
fall with lime-sulphur. That one spraying would be sufficient to cheek 
most of the scaly insects. 

Q. Should nitrate of soda be used then? 

A. No. There is danger of over-feeding young trees. There is 
not any danger of overfeeding young trees during the early part of 
the season, but there might be in the latter part of the year, and the 
wood would not mature early in the fall. Check that growth by throw- 
ing some grain around so as to take that food away from the trees. 

Q. If the soil needed lime and phosphate, how should it be put in 
when one plants? 

A. If 'it needs lime (acid soil) a general application of 500 pounds 
to two tons per acre is the way to apply the lime. 

Q. Have you ever tried grafting one pear to a larger kind to in- 
crease the quality? 

A. No. 

Q. Would grafting one pear into the top of a Bartlett pear ma- 
terially affect the size without affecting the quality? 

A. The bulletin on cross-pollination w'ill answer that question. 

Q. What is the best method of improving the soil ; 

A. By turning under clover or vfetch. 

Q. Should this be done two or three years before planting an or- 
chard ? 

A. Plant your orchard, and if there is plenty of rainfall in the 
fall of the year, sow vetch. Vetch grows late during the winter. Sow 

% 



FIRST YEAR IN THE APPLE ORCHARD 27 

it in the fall between the trees, and as soon as there is a satisfactory- 
growth in the spring and the weather gets warm, plow it under, 

Q. How near would you sow the vetch to the trees? 

A. Within t-\vo feet. Just as near as you can plow. 

Q. What height do you recommend to head the tree? 

A. About two feet. If I were planting further east, where there 
are high winds, I would probably head the tree 12 to 18 inches, but 
not less than two feet. 

Q. In burning out. a stump do you dig in under? 

A. No. Do not do much digging where there is sandy soil. Just 
dig out a little around the base of the stump, just about enough to 
remove one shovelful, 

Q. How can one tell when to irrigate an orchard? 

A. Take up a handful of soil and if it falls apart that shows it 
has not moisture enough. A cultivated orchard should be dry for 
three inches. That is what we call a dust mulch on top of the soil. 

Q. Is there any objection to raising potatoes between the trees? 

A. No. Of course potatoes take a little potash from the soil, but 
that can be returned. 

Q. What effect has raising strawberries by irrigation between 
trees ? 

A, Raising any crop, especially strawberries, takes away a little 
of the potash. Any cultivated crop is all right. 

Q. What is the lowest elevation suitable for raising apples? 

A. I do not know of any reason why they could not be grown 
practically at sea level provided the soil is not heavy, but the apples 
would not have as good keeping qualities as those raised at a higher 
elevation. 

Q. What is a good method to keep squirrels away? 

A. Shooting, trapping and poisoning. 




Fine specimen of a Si:iitzenberg- Apple tree grown aiiU acNeluped by one of the 
lecturers in this course. 



First Things in Apple Culture 

Charles A. Cole, of the Oregcn Agricultural College. 

XF A MAN were to come to me and ask what is the first thing to 
do in beginning an apple orchard, I wonld not hesitate to tell 
him to look into the proposition very carefully and see just what 
returns are being received by different growers and talk with the man 
who is getting the highest returns and find out all he can about it, 
and after he finds out just what he can expect from an occupation of 
this kind, then take a look at himself. One of the important rules of 
business is to find out just what you want to do and are able to 
do, and it is more so in apple culture than in anything else. 

You want to find out whether you have patience or courage enough 
to wait several years for returns, or whether you have endurance to 
go out and live with your trees. If you find out that you can do so, 
it is a pretty good thing to go into apple growing. If you cannot, 
there is nothing in it. 

Now if one finds that he wants to grow apples, the first thing is 
to look for a location. There are many mistakes made in this line of 
business, for in looking for a proper locality for apple growing there 
are many different points that have to be taken into consideration, 
and one of these is markets. You do not want to do as a man I heard 
of, who had been raised in an eastern state and lived in Chicago, 
or some eastern city all his life, and finally decided to come to Ore- 
gon. He did not know Oregon conditions, but was sure he would like 
them, so bought land in Eastern Oregon and was going to grow apples. 
When we looked him up he was 150 miles from a railroad. That is 
what I mean about good markets. Be sure and have good trans- 
portation if you are going to make a success. Buy near a railroad, for 
country road transportation is very difficult. If you lay out an or- 
chard a long way from a railroad, but are sure that there is going 
to be a railroad in five or six years, it is all right. It makes a great 
difference whether apples have to be hauled five or ten miles. 

There are two or three different kinds of markets to be taken into 
consideration. Some people like special markets. They have so many 
customers, and those customers will pay them a good price, like some 
people have markets for chickens, eggs, butter, etc. If you want a 
market of that kind, you must go near a big city, and you want a lot 



30 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




Spraying an apple orchard in the Yakima Valley, Washington. 



of money to start with, because it is going to cost a large amount to 
put this market in shape in order to bring high prices. 

The market almost all apple-growers want to go to is the whole- 
sale market. It does not make much difference where you go, just 
so you go near a railroad. Some time ago people used to ship apples 
in sacks. They did not know the best way to get apples to market, 
nor understand packing as we do. With our up-to-date packing ap- 
pliances and our much improved expressing, we can grow apples right 
here and put them on the market in Europe just as easily as a man 
can get apples in Ohio and send them to New York City, because we 
have the first-class means to get them there. After we have taken 
these things into consideration, we have decided to buy near a rail- 
road, of course. Two railroads are better than one. 

Then you want to take a look at the lay of the land in regard to 
drainage, which is one of the most important things to apple land. I 
mean both air and water. It is just as important to have air drain- 
age as water drainage. Get land that is free from frosts, for by so 
doing you are likely to have land that has good water. If you select 
a piece of land that lies down in the bottom, that has no outlet to allow 
the air to pass in and out, you will be pretty sure to lose a number of 
crops by frost. If you choose a piece of land out in a large valley, j'ou 
will be sure of the same trouble. I have seen land where they were 



FIRST THINGS IN APPLE CULTURE 



31 




One of the famous apple orchards of the Rogue River Valley, Oregon, 
showing smudge pots. 



troubled very much by frosts, and a man going 100 feet higher up 
never lost a crop, so be sure you get just the right height. See that 
the land is up high enough and that the valley is not blocked, for if it 
is the air will not pass in and out freely and you will be troubled with 
frosts. Sometimes a group of trees will do that. An orchard can be 
planted in the valley the same as on the hillside, if the valley is not too 
large and is not blocked in. You will find if you get near a river, that 
is, if there is a pretty good slope toward the river, or if there is a large 
body of water, you will not be troubled with frosts, because the rivers 
or body of water keeps off the spring and the fall frosts. It keeps the 
air from getting warm in the spring, and hence keeps the fruit from 
growing too soon and retains the warmth in the fall and prevents the 
air from cooling down to frost point. These are all things you want to 
take into consideration when you are looking for land. 

Then also the soil must be considered. This is a matter of very 
great importance. You must see if it w'ill produce a good crop of 
wheat or is good for vegetables. If it will grow these things it will 
grow apples, but you want to get down into the soil. Take a soil 
augur and get down into the earth four or five feet ; bore holes all 
over the tract of land. Find out whether it is of good depth or not. 
If it is hard you cannot grow apple trees, because they will strike 




The results of caieful apple culture in Oregon. 



FIRST TIIIXGS IN APPLE CULTURE 3S 

that hard ground and that will keep them from growing- deep and 
strong, and also there "vvill not be enough moisture. In July and Au- 
gust, when you want a large amount of moisture, you will not have 
any, and your apples will not grow large enough to be marketable. 
You should have at least four or five feet of good soil, because, as T 
have said, if you have not, it will not retain moisture enough to grow 
apples, and just when you want to put the growth on the apples you 
will have nothing there to grow them, and the apples will be small. I 
have heard of a man who grew apples on 18 inches of soil, but he had 
to irrigate his orchard. A large per cent of our orchards are not near 
irrigation. These things should be taken into consideration, even 
where there is a good irrigation system, because one wants to be 
sure of his crop, as sometimes when water is needed there is none to 
be had, and another crop is lost, and then even if you do not irrigate 
just at the right time, your crop will be brought down in market 
value. If you buy land that has deep rich soil, you will be sure to have 
moisture just when you want it and a good marketable crop. There 
are certain ways of doing things and you want to find out the best 
and then do it that way. You either want to make good or make a 
failure, so you want to select land that has fertile soil. 

Another important question is whether you want land that is 
already cleared and planted or not. If you have the money to put 
into a growing orchard in a highly cultivated section, all right, but 
many of us have not. You can get a good piece of land in an un- 
cultivated district, but generally the difference in the price is not 
enough to warrant you to buy land with timber on it. It takes from 
$25 to $250 per acre to clear the land and get it ready for trees. You 
might be able to get it cleared and in cultivation, but you might pay 
out five times that much before you get it into cultivation, so you 
want to take this into consideration. Then it would be best to plant 
the land: to something else for the first year or so, especially an oak 
grubbed land. Allow the roots to die out before planting apple trees. 
]\Iost people have not enough money and patience to wait any longer 
than they possibly have to for the orchard to bring them some kind 
of an income. In new soil you want to get all the roots and other 
matter out, and in old soil you want to plow very deep and harrow it 
down thoroughly. 

After the soil is ready for planting the trees, select what varieties 
you are going to grow. That is a very important point. It mostly 
depends upon what market you are going to supply. If you are going 
to grow a home orchard of about 150 trees or so, get a number of 
different kinds, but not so with a commercial orchard. You must 
stick to your locality and the market there, and find out what kind of 



34 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

apples have the best market, that is, a commercial or wholesale market. 
In some localities you can grow Spitzenbergs, in others Jonathans, 
and still others Newtowns, while in others you may be able to grow 
and make a success of all three. Therefore, before selecting your 
variety, the best thing to do is to find out just what variety you can 
set out. You do not want to set out some kind with which no one has 
made a success. 

A man in Texas wanted to find out how to grow Spitzenbergs there, 
because they were growing them in Hood River and making a suc- 
cess, and getting $3 per box, and he wanted to get the same result. 
We wrote and told him that we knew nothing about growing Spitzen- 
bergs in Texas. There are many varieties that bring high prices to 
some people. Some people grow Spitzenbergs in one place because of 
high prices, while in another place they grow some other kind because 
Spitzenbergs do not pay. The Newtowns bring in more money than 
Spitzenbergs, because Spitzenbergs produce only about every other 
year. From Newtowns you can expect and have a good crop every 
year. Inquire of the apple-growers in the locality where you have 
the land and plant the kind that they have had the best success with. 

Now about mixing varieties. You have undoubtedly heard a great 
deal about that. We usually plant about four or five rows of New- 
towns and one row of Spitzenbergs or Arkansas Blacks for polleniz- 
ing. The pollenizing question has not been thoroughly threshed out 
yet, and many people make fun of it, but they are taking more notice 
of it now than years ago. There is something in mixing apples, that 
is by pollenizing one variety with another. You can set one row to 
five and get good results ; that is, four rows of Newtowns and one row 
of Red Fall Pippins. I would not advise putting them in closer than 
that. Some people put a branch in the top of a tree. They have a 
Newtown tree with an Arkansas Black branch in the top, but the 
trouble is when they pick them all together. The Newtowns are liable 
to get mixed with the Arkansas Blacks. Arkansas Blacks should be 
kept in one tree and Spitzenbergs or Newtowns in another, and you 
will have just as good results. 

After you have decided what kind of variety you want, then find 
out what kind of trees to plant ; which class, first or second. If I 
had luy own orchard I would want to plant it in nothing larger than 
one-year-old trees. They grow better than two-year-old trees. Some 
prefer budded and some grafted trees. In setting out grafted trees, 
you have a two-year root system and a one-year top, so I think that 
would be the best tree to get. It does not pay to get a number of large 
trees, because the others make the best growth. I met a man the other 
dav who had taken over several hundred trees from his neighbor 



FIRST THINGS IN APPLK CULTURE 



35 




A Spitzenberg orchard, Hood River Valley, Oregon, in full bloom. 



who had too many trees. They were all large trees and he lost about 
]2 per cent of them. Then he got several thousand small trees — not 
much larger than a lead pencil — about one-half inch in diameter, and 
he got a good growth out of them. You want to get a tree with a lot 
of fiber shoots. If you have a big tree with a long, straight root, and 
no fiber shoots, you will not get a good growth, and it will not make 
any better tree than the small one. In the second year you will note 
the difference, so to get a good growth of trees be sure to get a small 
tree with a great bunch of fiber shoots. Do not try to get too much 
for your money. This is the main point to take into consideration. 
You want to pay as much attention to the roots as you do to the top 
of the trees. 

Now, in laying out orchards, what is the best time to plant trees 
, — Fall, spring, or when? If you can get first-class trees, now is the 
time to set them out. There is no danger of their freezing to death be- 
fore spring, or, if you- have to wait lintil spring, set them out early 
before the growth starts. Your trees will be 50 per cent better if set 
out at the right time. Al)Out February or the first of INIarch when 
we have some nice weather, would be a good time to set your trees. 



36 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

The one advantage of planting trees in the fall is that they can start 
to grow at once in the spring. If they are kept over until spring yon 
may not be able to get them until late, and they will be almost a 
year behind. If you cannot get your trees in the fall, take adantage 
of the first nice weather in the early spring, about February to set 
them out. I set out a thousand trees in March and lost three out of that 
thousand. My neighbor lost about three to every hundred set out, 
so it depends upon how j^ou plant trees more than upon the time. 

Another very important thing is how far apart trees should be 
set. In some localities of the state you can set them closer than in 
others. Consider the conditions of the section in which you buy your 
land. The trees ought to be from 30 to 35 feet apart. About 50 trees 
to the acre. A great many are as close as 25 feet and many closer 
than that. You may set your trees close together, but they will bear 
so much and no more per acre. You save money by setting them far 
apart. They should be 30 or 35 feet apart to get a maximum crop. 

In laying out an orchard what system should be used? I like 
the square sj'stem better than any other. Set out in squares about 
33 feet apart. In this system you always have a roadway to haul your 
machinery through in fall and spring. Another system is what is 
called the quincunx. This is an arrangement made by planting four 
trees and one in the middle. All five trees measure exactl.y 33 feet from 
each other. If j-ou get 100 trees in a field by the square system, you 
will get about 175 bj^ the quincunx system. Now, there is another 
system that is called the hexagon. There are seven trees in a group 
instead of five. Just place one in the middle and six around it; all 
exactly 33 feet from each other. By this system you can get in 15 
per cent more trees than by the square system. It being used 
very successfully. The main advantage is that you can get more 
trees to an acre and still not crowd them, but you cannot have a 
road to drive througli in that system as in the square system. If 
you want to grow something between the trees, the square system is 
very beneficial. The filler system is very successful and especially so, 
if you want peach trees because they grow about three or four times 
as fast as apple trees and can therefore be used very successfully for 
fillers. The trouble with the filler system is that most people will not 
grub them out when they ought to, even when they know that it is 
detrimental to their trees not to. Apple trees are also a good filler, 
if taken out in time, but most people neglect to do so and the first 
thing they know thej^ have pruned their orchard to death. Everything 
that is done in an orchard should be done to better the tree. Keep 
this in mind when you go into the filler business. 

Now, another thing you Avant to be careful about, is to get your 



FIKST TIIIXGS IX APl'LK Cl'LTUKE 




Vista uf lliL- Ji.iMd Ui\-r \' 



Mi. 11(jlh1 in tli.j di.suii 



trees in perfect rows. They always look better and are easier Avorked. 
One way to accomplish that is to take a wire long enough to reach 
clear across your orchard and get a stick as long as the distance you 
want your trees apart, say 30 feet, measure the wire and solder a 
little piece of wire on it every 30 feet. Wire is better than bicycle 
tape or rope, as it will always be uniform. After you have soldered 
the wire, you fasten it at one end and use a little pulley at the other 
to pull it perfectly straight, and in that Avay your trees will all be 
exactly even, then move it along as you go. You nuiy use a rope and 
pegs, if you are not planting too large a piece of ground, and you will 
have to do more measuring than with a soldered wire. You can make 
the pegs as you go along, or either pull them out after you have 
planted the trees. One man told me that he always split pegs l)ecause 
it was easier than pulling them out. One test whether your rows 
are straight or not is to look across diagonally. If you look across 
the field that way, you will have an idea of just how much out of 
Inie you have the trees. An inch or two out shows very plainly that 
way. Of course, several different methods are used in getting them 
in line and their rows straight, l)ut I think the wire method is the 
most satisfactory. The main point is to get your rows perfectly 
straight from all sides, or from any direction you may look at them. 

Questions and Answers. 



Q. Is there a difference in the taste of apples grown in irrigated 
or unirrigated land? 

A. I have seen a difference in the taste of peaches grown on 
irrigated and unirrigated land. The difference was for the reason 



38 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

that the land was flooded jnst at the time Avhen the peaches Avere 
ripening, and the result was a very watery taste. Hence you may do 
the same thing with apples. Otherwise I think there is no differen(;e. 

Q. What is the main advantage for preferring the square sys- 
tem? 

A. The main advantage is that you can work it easier, and can 
drive through between the rows Avithout any trouble. 

Q. What is the use of pollenizing, does it make the apples any 
better, and what kind of apples would you use? 

A. The main purpose of pollenizing is to get a better color. 
You want to plant five rows of Newtowns and one row of Spitz- 
enbergs, or five rows of Spitzenbergs and one row of Arkansas Blacks. 
Use the Spitzenbergs for the Newtow^ns and the Arkansas Blacks for 
the Spitzenbergs. 

Q. How about burning smudge pots? 

A. I do not know much about smudge pots, but they claim that 
it is a success in some places, while in others it is not. It depends 
upon what locality they are used, and also upon the size of the valley. 
They will do more good in a small valley than in a large one. 

Q. Is fern a good fertilizer? 

A. Fern is almost too much of a fertilizer for me. It grows 
too fast. The best thing to do with fern is to pull it out with all the 
roots you can and burn them, and keep the small ones down as they 
come up. The fern land is usually good for apples, if you can keep 
the fern down. 

Q. How about growing potatoes between the fruit trees? 

A. Well, that might do, if you keep them far enough from the 
tree. You do not want to do like a man I once talked to. He had 
strawberries among his apple trees, and one-half of them were about 
five feet from the trees and the other half he had the trees setting in 
the strawberry hills, and then he wondered why his trees there did 
not do so well as the ones where the strawberries were five feet from 
the tree. 

Q. Does it make any difference whether you set trees on the 
north or south slope? 

A. No, I think not. Of course, it depends upon the climate and 
on how much sun you have in the summer. If the sun is very hot, 
I would prefer the north slope, otherwise it makes little difference. 
Grapes must be planted on the east and south slope. 

Q. What is a good fertilizer for new land before planting trees? 

A. I would not use any fertilizer for new land, but I would allow 
the land to lie idle for a year or so in order to rot out all the roots and 
also kill some of the insects. 



FIRST TIIIXGS IX APPLE CULTURE 39 

Q. Is it a good plan to raise hay in an orchard; 

A. No, because the hay takes ont all the moisture in ^lay and 
June and in July and August, when you need it to make your apples 
big and marketable, you have none. 

Q. How about clover? 

A. That is worse yet, because you do not sow that every year 
and it draAvs moisture all around. 

Q. How about planting berries? 

A. That may be all right, provided you do not come too near 
the trees, and I would grow nothing among my trees after they are 
four or five years old. If you plant berries, plant them about five 
feet from the trees and each year plow out a few more, so by the 
time your trees are about four or five years old you have plowed out 
all the berries. 

Q. How is vetch for a fertilizer if soAved early in the fall and 
plowed under in the spring? 

A. That is very good, provided you sow it early enough. It 
ought to be about three inches high by that time, so it is about eight 
inches high when you plow it under. 

Q. HoAV about growing apples on land Avhere nothing else will 
grow ? 

A. Apples are not likely to grow there either. Grow apples on 
land where vegetables and wheat grow good. 

Q.. What is the best way to keep trees over Avinter, put them in 
a cold storage cellar or not? 

A. A cold storage cellar may be all right, but I prefer laying 
them out on the ground and covering their roots Avitli dirt. 

Q. In setting out a home orchard would you get a tree of each 
kind or several trees, say about 50 trees? 

A. I should get a tree of Astricans and one or two of Graven- 
steins and several trees each of the winter apples, such as Jonathans, 
Newtowns, Spitzenbergs, Arkansas Blacks, Winesaps, etc. 

Q. HoAv about Baldwin apples ? 

A. They are all right as long as they do not get the Baldwin 
spots. "We do not know what causes them, but they start in the middle 
of the apple and come out. 

Q. How about elevation? Would 2.200 feet be too high. 

A. I Avould not go over 2,000 feet, but it might be all right up 
that high, provided it is not near a mountain. 






>m. 




Practical!}- a perfect specimen of a Yellow Newtown Apple tree growing in one 
of the famous apple districts of Oregon. 



Management of Orchard Soils 

By Prof. C. C. Thorn, of the Washington State Collage. 

IT HAS been said that agrienlture and horticulture might he lik- 
ened to a man. The growing of crops, fruit and trees might rep- 
resent one hand of a man ; the raising of live stock and the mar- 
keting of stuff, the other hand ; but attached to and supporting all 
that, is a man's body or trunk, which we will liken to the soil. Above 
all is a man's head, which we will likeii to the man himself. 

I will leave it to you to decide which is the most important, but 
it seems to me that aside from all things, one must have the trunk 
for a support before he has the right or left hand; this brings one 
back to the soil. I believe I am right when I say that the soil is the 
most important part of agriculture. On it depends every other phase 
of that art. I venture to say that because the soil is so common and 
we tread it every day, we know so little about it. One will hesitate 
to say why. We till the soil because it is a most common practice. 

Tt is my purpose tonight to explain why it is necessary to till the 
soil and keep up its fertility. I will liken the soil to a manufacturing 
Tjlant. A large manufacturing establishment must first have a build- 
ing, also raw material and workmen. These three essentials will turn 
out a finished product. Consider the soil as an establishment for man- 
ufacturing purposes. First consider the plant itself, which we will 
liken to the soil; next consider the raw material, or the chemicals in 
the soil on which the plant feeds. As you all know, these chemicals 
and materials have to be bred before the plant can feed upon them. 
Next comes the workmen. Possibly this subject has not been men- 
tioned before, as we profess to know little about it, but I am going 
to tell you that the workmen in that large establishment are bacteria. 

We will begin wnth the plant itself and analyze it. An ordinary 
soil is composed of two great bodies or parts ; the mineral part, or 
inorganic matter which has eome from broken down rocks, and the 
organic matter. These constitute the raw material with Avhich these 
workmen have to work. The inorganic matter comprises sand, silt 
and clay. Organic piatter is the decayed remains of plants and 
animals. Sand and clay may vary in color. Sometimes they are 
almost pure white, and at other times they are very dark. There are 
all types of clay, but sand is nearly always gray or whitish in color. 



42 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

It is composed of inorganic substances and hard particles. Sand is the 
coarser particles of the soil ; clay is the same material only it is broken 
into finer particles. One can grind sand like coffee or pepper and 
make pure clay out of it. 

We will now consider the organic matter. Humus is always black 
in color, therefore black soils are rich in humus. From organic 
matter we get part of the plant food; from inorganic matter we get 
part of the soil solution that goes to make up the plant; from sand 
and clay we get, first of all, lime. Lime is essential to the life of a 
plant. Next comes potash, phosphate and nitrogen. These four 
essentials, with the addition of a little iron and a few other substances, 
which are never lacking, build up a plant. With these alone plant 
growth is impossible. A plant must have water. We likened the soil 
to a manufacturing establishment and the soil itself to a building; 
these are the raw materials ; we will liken water to the transporta- 
tion facilities that bring these finished products to their place of con- 
sumption. For instance, there might be plenty of bread in Boston, 
but if there were no wheat, no flour, and no railroads, it would not 
do us any good, so if there were no means of bringing these sub- 
stances through the medium of water to the plant, it could not grow. 
These essentials in available form constitute fertility. If any one is 
in an unavailable form, that constitutes unfertility. 

Possibly some of you have read bulletins from our Agricultural 
College setting forth the fact that the soil contains water, phosphates, 
lime and nitrogen, and drawing the inference that the soil will grow so 
many tons to the acre for a certain number of years. The author of these 
bulletins assumes that these are not in a raw state, but a finished 
product and they are manufacturing elements for the plant to use. It 
is a mistaken idea that one can analyze the soil, add a chemical, and 
determine how many crops can be grown in a certain number of years. 
I am fully convinced that this is an erroneous statement. I read a 
statement in a l)ulletin not long ago about a certain valley not far 
from here in which there are orchards bearing 600 boxes of apples, 
but that in twelve years they cannot produce anything, and I said most 
emphatically I did not believe it. One would think from such state- 
ments that if a plant contained an element of plant food the plant 
would grow. Those elements are present, and yet the soil may not 
be fertile. We must have workmen to produce the finished product, 
and they are bacteria. In every manufacturing establishment there 
are some men that pay their employer a good profit on all they do, 
and others who are barely earning their wages. There are some bac- 
teria in the soil which, under all conditions are working, but under 
some conditions barely earn their wages. In other conditions they 




A famous apple orchard in the Walla Walla Valley, Washingiua. 



44 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

give you a good dividend. This brings us back to the point that the 
condition of the soil makes the difference between a good and a poor 
crop, and that the condition of the soil makes either a good or a poor 
environment in which bacteria may do their work. It is not lime that 
liberates the potash; it is bacterial action that does it. I have a piece 
of chalk about a third of an inch square every way. If it were com- 
posed of ordinary soil there would be over eleven million bacteria 
in it. In my private laboratory I had some soil which had been pro- 
ducing wheat for forty-two years; for the last eleven years it has 
averaged twelve bushels to the acre. I obtained some other soils that 
had only been cropped for five years and averaged 36 bushels to the 
acre. Those two soils were placed side by side. It is reasonable to 
suppose that the plant food was gone from the soil which had been 
cropped for forty-two years, but that in the new soil there was plant 
food. I had the idea that bacteria had something to do with them, 
so I took three pots of soil from the field that produced wheat for 
forty-two years. I put these pots in a soil oven and heated them to 
a boiling point. This was done to kdl the bacteria. If I had put 
acid in the soil it would have killed the plant food. I took some 
virgin soil from the field which had been cropped for five years and 
planted these pots M^ith wheat the same day, under the same con- 
ditions. When we harvested that wheat, the pots that came from 
the poor soil that had been sterilized had three and one-fourth times 
as much wheat as the pots which came from the good soil. I didn't 
add a, grain of fertilizer, but simply killed the bad bacteria in the 
soil and the plant was able to grow. In other words, the soil that had 
been cropped for fortj^-two years had become so contaminated with 
undesirable bacteria that the plant refused to grow good crops. 

The time is coming when a farmer will not go out into his field 
and supplj^ artificial fertilizer, but will send to some laboratory and 
get certain germs that he can spread over his field and in that way 
produce results. One can put bad germs into the soil and the crops will 
refuse to grow ; good germs can be put into poor soil and good crops 
will be produced. We are not the only ones that have been doing that. 
I can refer you to papers and reports from England and France that 
will verify my statement. It is not a question of what is in the soil or 
the plant food, but of the condition of the workmen avIio are making 
that food so that the plant can use it. Remember that it is not lime, 
phosphate and manure that make it all, but bacteria. If one can get 
rid of the undesirable workmen and put in skilled Avorkmen he can 
get much better results. These workmen must have the raw material. 

Now comes the next point. Why is the soil tilled? If the soil 
is hard and compact, this condition leads to the growth of bad work- 



:\rAx.\fiEArEXT of orchard soils 



45 




Irrigation as practiced in the Lowiston district, Idalio. Orchard land with young trees. 



men. Bacteria are plants, very minute in size; they are not animals. 
They will groAV under all sorts of conditions and materials, such as 
stumps, roots and branches. A plant will not grow in darkness, con- 
sequently it must have light; it must also have moisture. Plants can- 
not grow without food, consequently the bacteria must have food to 
live on. Think of this for a minute and you will see the reason for 
cultivating the soil and putting it into condition. Plants must also 
have air. If one tries to grow a tree where there is no air, it will die. 
It must have air, light, heat and moisture. Therefore we till the 
soil to bring about a condition necessary, not only for the plant above 
the ground, but more particularly for an ideal condition for these 
workmen that are so busy underneath the soil. If the soil is loosenetl 
up more air gets into it ; it gets more siuilight. and holds more moisture. 
A soil that gets air, light and heat has greater bacterial action and 
more plant food is going to be manufactured, especially for plant use. 
Hard material must be made soluble before a plant can use it. That 
is the purpose of the workmen. They take the raw material and make 
it soluble. Remember they cannot do this unless they have the raw 
material to work with. 

If the soil in your orchard is in an undesirable condition your 
trees will not grow. How many of you have noticed that if potatoes 
are grown on the same patch for a numlier of j^ears, the scab on the 



46 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

potato will soon get very bad and it will begin to rot, much more 
than if they had been grown on different patches? The same thing 
is true of wheat. These diseases are bacterial diseases. There are 
good and bad bacteria. These diseases are called parasite diseases. A 
parasite is an animal that lives on another, consequentl.y one plant 
lives on another. There are diseases on nearly all the roots of plants 
as well as on the leaves. 

There is a method of killing them, and that is by rotation of crops 
in between the trees, such as potatoes, clover or vegetables. You 
must divert your attention sometimes from the orchard itself to some 
other crop and introduce other bacteria that will compete with the un- 
desirable bacteria. Clover Avhen plowed under supplies the humus 
which is chiefly the food of these bacteria; that is, while they are 
working and putting these others into shape (potash, phosporic acid 
and lime), they are living on this humus. 

You have read that humus must be put in the soil because we 
thought humus nourished the plant in some way, but we find that it 
does not nourish the plant so much. There is one point I want to 
state above all others. There must be plenty of humus in the soil. 
It is very desirable from the fact that it is a means of transporting 
moisture. It has. been said by possibly one of the greatest authorities, 
Mr. F. H. King, that more crop failures were due from lack of mois- 
ture than from any other thing, and I heartily agree with him. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How can a badly run down farm that has Ijeen cropped for 
thirty years be built up? 

A. First loosen up the soil to the depth of about eight inches, so 
that it will hold plenty 'of moisture, and make it possible for these 
bacteria to grow. After it is well loosened up put in a clover crop and 
plow it under. 

Q. "When you spoke of sterilizing the soil, didn't you kill the 
good bacteria with the bad? 

A. I forgot to say that we added the good. 

Q. Is there any benefit in adding better soil on top of the bad 
soil ? 

A. Possibly for a short time, but it would soon become inocu- 
lated with the bad bacteria again. 

Q. For instance, if one were going to grow a clover crop wouldn't 
it be better to first inoculate the soil? 

A. When starting clover on new land, inoculate the soil with 
the nodules of the old soil. 



MANAGEMENT OF ORCHARD SOILS 47 

Q. Is clover a better crop to plow under than vetch? 

A. Vetch is also a legume, same kind of a plant. Peas are just 
the same. Peas, beans, vetch, alfalfa, clover, all belong to the same 
family and all serve the same purpose. 

Q. How about ferns? Are they easy to raise? 

A. We have found by analysis that ferns are almost as rich in 
nitrogen as alfalfa, consequently the fern would be a very good' fer- 
tilizer, but is not as deep. 

Q. Do these bacteria produce humus in the soil by cultivation 
of the soil? 

A. They don't produce the humus; they lie on the humus and 
produce soluble forms. 

Q. How can one tell the difference between good and bad Imc- 
teria? 

A. One can tell that they are present where crops are running- 
down. For instance, where potatoes are grown for a number of years 
on the same soil there is a large percentage of scab. In order to get 
rid of this, stop that crop and grow some other. 

Q. Is the color in red shot soil due to humus or is it due to iron? 

A. It is due to iron. 

Q. At what stage would you plow under alfalfa? 

A. When it is sufficiently large for convenience. If it gets too 
large it is hard to plow under. 

Q. What depth of soil should one have for planting an orchard? 

A. Four or five feet will produce a good orchard. The deeper 
the soil the better. 

Q. Is the north slope better than the south slope? 

A. I believe the north slope is better for protection against frost. 
For color I prefer a south slope. 






■■^-1 




A four-year-old Spitzenberg Apple tree, Hood River Valley. Oregon. 



Varieties and Environment 

C. I. Lewis, of the Oregon Agricultural College. 

©HE subject of variety adaptation in each locality is a very dif- 
ficult question. If one will stop a moment to think and analyze 
the conditions in this great state of Oregon, he will find that this 
is so. Take the rainfall for example ; it varies from 23 to 130 inches. 
There are elevations from sea level to very high altitudes, and all sorts 
of soil. There are various exposures and great changes in climatic 
conditions. There are more changes in this state than would probably 
be found in all the territory from the Atlantic seaboard to the Missis- 
sippi River. One can go out into a single localitj^ and within a few 
miles find the rainfall cut in two, the elevation practically doubled 
and the soil absolutely different; so I have a very difficult problem 
on hand and need your help in this work. I hope to have two field 
men start work soon, and this will be one of their problems — "Variety 
and adaptability in the State of Oregon." 

The popularity of a variety may he controlled by a numl)er of 
factors, and may be divided into several heads : 

First: Varieties that are popular because of their general scar- 
city, coupled with a fairly good quality. These include grape fruit, 
the Cornice pear, and the Spitzenberg apple. At the present time the 
lietter type of grape fruit is sold for as high as 50 cents apiece, and 
it ceases to be a poor man's fruit. This is due partly to scarcity, and 
perhaps, partly to fashion. The Spitzenberg apples bring a high price 
because of their rarity. The Comice pear brings a very high price 
largely on account of its scarcity, as well as on account of its good 
quality. 

Second : By wide adaptability : the Concord grape, the Bart- 
lett pear and the Baldwin apple. Take the Concord grape, for in- 
stance; this has received the largest vote as being the best; then the 
Bartlett pear. Nearly everybody knows the Bartlett pear. It is the 
only pear grown under many different conditions, climatic and other- 
wise. The Baldwin apple is grown over a large area. 

Third: By quality alone. Varieties may become popular be- 
cause of their high finality. That stage has not been reached in 
America. The country is apt to go through several evolutions on such 
problems. Before the commercial days, amateurs grew high-quality 



50 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




An apple orchard in full bloom, Yakima Valley, Washington. 



fruit. Perhaps a little later, when the country becomes more popu- 
lated, and there is more wealth, there will be a set of men in Oregon 
Avho will grow a good quality of fruit and the world will appreciate 
it. The degree of perfection of a variety is controlled largely by a 
combination of such factors as elevation, exposure, soil, general cli- 
matic conditions, and the skill of the grower. 

The subject of variety adaptation in the Pacific Northwest is still 
in its infancy. Since the great acreage in orchards is still not in a 
bearing state, it will be some time before final conclusions can be 
adopted concerning the best varieties to grow under the various con- 
ditions to be found in each locality. There is a tendency in the state 
to plant in some cases too few varieties, or rather to try to adapt a 
very few varieties to all conditions. Among the principal varieties of 
apples is the Spitzenberg, one of the most popular. This is adapted 
to a deep, rich soil. This variety is subject to all the troubles a tree is 
heir to, and needs constant nursing and careful handling. It is profit- 
able only when grown to a high degree of perfection. The second 
and third grades of this variety are often a drag on the market. 

The Jonathan is an apple of quite wide adaptability, but to be 
at its best it should develop a high degree of color. It needs careful 



VARIETIES AND ENVIROXMENT 



51 




Yakima Valley, Washington, apple tree in full bearing. 



handling at the time of picking, as it develops core rot and breaks 
down rapidly if allowed to hang on too long. 

In most sections of the Northwest the Northern Spy is of rather 
poor qnality, but some sections of the Willamette Valley have been 
especially successful in growing this variety. It should not be grown 
in too rich or too heavy soil, and rank growth should be discouraged 
by the use of summer pruning. It is a very desirable apple when high- 
ly colored and if not too large in size. 

The Gravenstein is a very popular apple, and is becoming a fall 
product in most sections, like the Hood River Valley, the Willamette 
Valley and the Rogue River Valley. In some of the coast counties 
and in some of the uplands of Eastern Oregon it has longd^eeping 
cjualities. By careful picking the keeping season can be prolonged. 

The King of Tompkins County has a tendency to over-grow and 
water at the core. l)ut when grown to a high degree of perfection will 
find a ready market as a fall apple. 

The Wagener is especially good as a filler and comes into bearing 
early. 

The Gano is in some ways an improvement over the Ben Davio, 



52 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTIIWE.ST 

having better color, and it is thought by many to be of superior qual- 
ity, and, although it is a low-grade apple, it has been fairly profitable. 

The Rome Beauty is rapidly becoming one of the leading apples 
for baking, and its popularity is steadily increasing throughout the 
state. As a rule it is profitable in most sections. 

The York Imperial is grown to a considerable extent in the Grand 
Ronde Valley, but it has not been tried to any extent in other sections. 

The Wiuesap is groAvn well to perfection in parts of Washington, 
but is grown sparingly in most Oregon districts. It has a tendency 
to grow undersize. 

The Macintosh Red is grown but little in this state. As a high- 
class Christmas apple it would be adapted to the high elevations and 
to localities of the most severe weather conditions. 

The Russian apples are usually adapted more or less to hardship 
and succeed on high elevations or exposures where others fail. 

The Delicious has been grown very little in Oregon. As yet it is 
now only in the experimental stage. The same may be said of the King 
David. 

Of the light-colored apples the Yellow Newtown is easily the 
leader. It has a wide adaptability and is now being grown to a 
high degree of perfection in the Hood River, Willamette and Umpqua 
Valleys. 

The Ortley is a popular apple in the Hood River district. It is 
planted considerably with Yellow Newtowns as fillers and pollenizers. 
It is a high quality cooking and eating apple. 

The Grimes Golden is increasing in popularity, especially in the 
Willamette Valley. It is a high-class apple, Init at times grows rather 
small and has a tendency to drop badly; still, it is one of the most 
promising varieties. 

The Winter Banana has as yet no commercial rating. I believe 
it is adapted to the higher elevations, similar to the upper Hood River 
Valley, rather than to other sections of the state. 

The White Winter Pearmain is grown splendidly in Oregon and 
is an apple of splendid vitality. It is a very good pollenizer with prac- 
tically everything that has been tried, and in certain sections it should 
be tried more than at present. 

The Rhode Island Greening is, where grown to a good degree of 
perfection, of good quality, and should receive more encouragement. 
It is successfully grown in Eastern Oregon and is increasing in popu- 
larity in some sections of the Willamette Valley. 

As to pears, it is the general belief that varieties like the Bartlett, 
Cornice and Bosc are grown to a higher degree of perfection on light 
rather than heavy soils. Whether they will keep as well when grown 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 53 

on such soils is a question still to be investigated. Where it has been 
reported that they have not kept as well when grown in such condi- 
tions, it may have been due to the fact that the crop was prepared in 
regions having only light soil against regions which had both light and 
heavy soils. 

The Cornice is being grown in larger quantities than is justified. 
While it is, when grown to a high degree of perfection, a high-j^riced 
pear, it is a shy bearer, comes into bearing late and is not as much 
of a money maker as other varieties. The Bartlett and the Anjou are 
steadily increasing in popularity. 

The Winter Nelis should l)e planted onl,y on the richest soils. 

Pear districts should try varieties not very commonly grown. Se- 
lect the Glou ]\Iorceau, Patrick Barry, Berre Hardy, etc. 

As a guide for the proper selection of varieties of fruits for differ- 
ent localities I have prepared a list which might l)e fohowed with ad- 
vantage. 

Varieties of Fruits for Various Localities. 

For the lower altitudes of, Wasco, Moro, Crook, Gilliam, Sherman, 
and Umatilla counties, the selection can be made from the following 
varieties : 

Apples — Yellow Transparent, Gravenstein, Jonathan, Winesap, 
Rome Beauty, Wagener and Ben Davis; the latter for spring use. 

Pears — Practicall}' any commercial variety, including Bartlett, 
Clapp's Favorite, Seckel, Anjou, Winter Nelis. 

Cherries — Lambert, Royal Anne and Bing, for sweet cherries. 
Early Richmond, English JMorello and Olivette for sour cherries. 

Prunes and Plums — Use any of the standard varieties such as Ital- 
ian, Hungarian and Peach Plum. 

Peaches — Alexander, Early and Late Crawford and Lemon Cling. 

Grape — European varieties are generally covered to be protected in 
winter. They are such as Black Hamburg, Muscat, Rose of Peru and 
Tokay. American varieties are : Worden, Concord, Niagara and Del- 
aware. 

Strawberries — Clark's seedling is the best. Practically any of 
the early, medium or late varieties would give a good family supply. 

Raspberries — Cuthbert, Gregg, Marlboro and Cumberland. 

Blackberries — Lawton, Eldorado and Kittatinny. 

Currants — Fay, Cherry and White Grape. 

Gooseberries — Red Jacket, Champion and Industry. 

For the lower elevations of Union, Baker and Wallowa counties, 
the following varieties are found to be the best adapted : 



54 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC XORTHWEST 

Apples — Yellow Transparent, Gravenstein, King, Jonathan, Eome 
Beauty, York Imperial. 

Pears — Bartlett, Clapp's Favorite and Anjon. 

Cherries — Lambert and Bing, for sweet cherries; Early Richmond 
and Olivette, for sour cherries. 

Prunes and Plums — Italian and Hungarian. 

Peaches — Any of the early varieties, such as Early Crawfords, 
Hale's Hardy, Alexander, etc. 

Grapes — Worden, Concord, Niagara and Brighton. 

Strawberries — Clark's Seedling, Sharpless and Magoon. 

Currants — Fay, White Grape. 

Gooseberries — Red Jacket, Industry and Champion. 

The higher elevations of Eastern Oregon suffer more or less from 
the severity of winter and drouth in summer, and the same care in 
the selection of varieties should be exercised. 

AppleS' — The Russian varieties will be the hardiest. These va- 
rieties in low altitudes are summer and fall varieties, but often in high 
altitudes they are long keepers. Red Astrachan, Gravenstein, Duch- 
ess, Wolf River, Wagener and IMacintosh Red are the best and most 
satisfactory to plant. Occasionally nearly any of the standard varie- 
ties grow sufriciently well for family use. Varieties of some promise 
in such sections are Rome Beauty, White Winter Pearmain, Delicious 
and Gano. 

Pears — White Doyanne, Seckle, Clapp's Favorite. 

Peaches — Peaches as a rule should not be grown in the higher ele- 
vations of Eastern Oregon, but occasionally such varieties as Alexander 
and Amsden do very well. The Gobb's apricot is often successful. 

Cherriesi — Lambert and Bing for sweet, and the Early Riehmon 1 
and Olivette for sour. 

Raspberries — Cuthbert and Turner's Red. 

Blackberries^— Any of the standard varieties, such as Kittatinny, 
Lawton and Eldorado. 

Gooseberries — Red Jacket and Champion. 

Strawberries — Clark's Seedling, Warfield and Bederwood. 

Varieties for Hood River. 

The varities considered best for Hood River are : 

Apples — Yellow Newtown, Spitzenberg, Ortley, Jonathan. Red 
Cheek, Arkansas Black. 

Pears-— Anjou is the leading variety, and seems to grow well. 
Other varieties worth trying would be the Bartlett and Patrick Barry. 

The varieties at Hosier are similar to those at Hood River. Very 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 



55 




Apple tree, Rogue River Valley, Oregon. This photo took first prize at the National 
Apple Show at Spokane for the best photograph of a single apple ti'ee. 

few other fruits are grown in this district. 

Raspberries — Cuthbert. 

Strawberries — Clark 's Seedling. 

In the upper Hood River Valley it is still in an experimental 
stage. The Winter Banana seems to do well, and it may be that the 
Delicious will be good for that district, also the Jonathan, Gano, etc. 

In the vicinity of The Dalles we find a district especially adapted 
to peaches, prunes, cherries and grapes. The district above The 
Dalles is being cultivated to apples, varieties of which are given in a 
list attached hereto. 

For peaches, the principal ones are Early Crawford, Late Craw- 
ford, Salway, Elberta, Muir, Orange and Lemon Cling. 

For cherries, such as the Birig and the Lambert do well. 

For grapes, such varieties as the Tokay and Muscat are growing 
well. 

Willamette Valley. 



One of the hardest valleys upon which to give advice as to the 
variety of fruit, due to the large area of the valley and the many 
varied conditions found, and owing, also, to the fact that, with ap- 



56 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

pies especially the industry is still in its infancy, is the Willamette 
Valley. __ ' 

Apples — Yellow Newtown, Jonathan, Grimes Golden, Rome Beau- 
ty, Gano, Eliode Island Greening, Gravenstein, Ortlej', Wagener, Spitz- 
enberg and Vanderpool Red. 

Pears — Bartlett, d'Anjou. Com ice, Patrick Barry and Clairgeau; 
and worth}^ of trial are the Glou jMorceau, Beurre Hardy, Rode and 
Howell. 

Peaches — Early Alexander, Amsden June,. Waterloo, Triumph, 
Early Columbia, Hale's Early, Mamie Ross, Lovell, Champion, Early 
Crawford, Early Charlotte, Tuscan Cling, Golden Cling, Muir, Late 
Crawford, Elberta, Globe, Fitzgerald, Salway. These varities are 
named in their fruiting order. Some of the most promising in this 
list are the Amsden June, Early Crawford, Early Charlotte. i\Iamie 
Ross, Muir, Elberta, Globe and Salway. 

Prunes — The Italian. 

Plums — The Peach Plum and the Satsnma. The ^Maynard is a 
good home plum. 

Cherries — Royal Anne, Bing and Lambert for sweet cherries; the 
Olivette, IMontmorency and Early Richmond for sour cherries ; and 
May Duke and Late Duke, which are especially fine for local cherries. 

Walnuts^ — Franquette, Mayette and ^Maylan. 

Grapes — Worden, Concord, Niagara, Delaware, Breighton. 

Such fruits as apricots and almonds should be grown sparingly in 
this valley. 

Red Raspberries — Cuthbert, ^Marlboro, Superlative Antwerp. 

Black Raspberries — Cumberland and Gregg. 

Blackberries— Evergreen, Snyder and Mammoth. 

Go'oseberries — The Oregon, Downing, Industry and Smith. 

Currants — Perfection, Fay, Victoria and White Grape. 

Strawberries — Gold Dollar, Sixteen to One, ]\Iagoon and Clark's 
Seedling. Also the Autumn Bell. 

Umpqua Valley. 

The principal apples grown are the Yellow Newtown, Spitzen- 
berg and Jonathan. Pears have been planted as yet but sparingly. 
Bartlett, Anjou and the Comice are in the lead. As this district is 
very early, more of the early types of cherries, pears, apples and 
peaches should be grown than at present. These would find a local 
trade throughout the Northwest. The leading cherries are the Royal 
Anne, Lambert, Olivette, Montmorency, Early Richmond, Early Purple 
and Guiype. 



VARIETIES AND EXVIKOXMEXT 57 

For small fruits in this district I would advise : 

Strawberries — Gold Dollar, Ever Bearing, etc., while the Clark's 

Seedling, ]\Iagoon, Sixteen to One, etc., will thrive. 

Grapes — Wordeu, Concord, Delaware, Breighton. Possibly in 

some of the sections a few of the European grapes, like the Muscat and 

Tokay will thrive. 

Rogue River Valley. 

Apples — Yellow Newtown, Spitzenberg, Jonathan. Winesap. 

Pears — Bartlett, Anjou, Oomice, Howell, Winter Nellis, Bosc are 
commonly groAvn. Such varieties as Glou Morceau, Patrick Barry, 
Beaurre Hardy are worthy of trial. 

Cherries — Lambert, Eoyal Anne, Olivette, Montmorency, Early 
Richmond, ^May Duke and Late Duke. 

Grapes — JMuscat, Tokay, Thompson Seedless, Worden, Concord 
and Delaware. 

Peaches — Practically all the commercial varieties thrive in this 
district. 

Prunes — Few prunes are grown except for local consumption, 
such varieties being the Italian and the Petite. 

Apricots — Royal and Tilton are the leading varieties. 

Almonds — Soft Shell, I. X. L., Languedoc and Drake's Seedling. 
The Texas Prolific is recommended as worthy of trial. 

Coast Countries. 

All the varieties of small fruits s^em to grow to a high degree 
of perfection in these coast countries. Most of the pomoceous fruits 
are still in the experimental stage. Locations should be chosen that 
are not exposed to the strong ocean winds. The Gravenstein is sup- 
posed to be one of the finest apples in these sections. Quite a number 
of our commercial varieties are growing to a fair degree of perfection. 

Peaches, cherries and grapes as a rule will probably only grow 
for home consumption. 

Dwarf Fruits. 

Before concluding, I should like to say a word on the subject 
of dwarf fruits. The dwarf fruit as a commercial proposition is still 
in an experimental condition in this state, ])ut the dwarf pear looks 
quite promising to be used in plantings by itself or to be used as a 
filler. There is one pear orchard in Idaho, and a number in this state, 
but few are bearing as yet. The trees can lie planted close together. 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 59 

They come into early bearing, and generallj^ produce a fine crop. They 
are g'enerally Avorked on Angers Quince or Portuguese stock, and then 
worked over to Duchess or Koonce, and finally they are worked over 
to whatever variety is desired. 

The dwarf is obtained by using a root that is slow growing, and 
then pruning. Pruning should be done in such a way as to throw out 
the laterals and spurs. Summer pruning is practiced much more with 
the dwarf stock than with the standard. 

Dwarf peaches are also being grown, and come into bearing quite 
heavily the first year. There are several plantings in our state, and 
it will only be a short time before we will know more of these. 

The dwarf apple has been tried very sparingly. When it is put on 
Paradise stock it is more of a curiosity, but when planted on the 
Doucin stock it may make a satisfactory tree for Western Oregon. 

The dwarf fruit otfers a splendid opportunity for a home garden 
and a good conservative field for trial in the commercial orchard. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How about the King David apple? 

A. To my knowledge it has been grown sparingly in any section. 
I saw one box at Hood Kiver and another at the National Fruit Show. 
It is still purely experimental and seems to be at its best in Eastern 
Washington. As to adaptability, would say go at it gradually. 

Q. Are many Rambo apples grown? 

A. Some of the commercial orchards grow a few. In an orchard 
I own myself there are two Rambo trees 7 years old this year; very 
heavily grown, first-class. They are encouraging from that point of 
view. 

Q. Is it too late in the season to plant apples or cherries'? 

A. It is a little too late fgr cherries ; and by planting apples now 
one would be losing just so much money. Apples to be at their best 
should be planted before this time, but should there be a wet April 
it would make little difference. In most parts of the state apples 
should be planted about the middle of March. If you haven 't ordered 
your trees, wait until fall and get your order in early. 

Q. Is the Northern Spy a late bearer? 

A. Yes, it comes into bearing very late, but by proper summer 
pruning and intense cultivation one can to some extent overcome that. 
I have 10 acres myselfj^ and think I can reduce the time considerabl3^ 
If I could grow as high-class apples as my neighbor, Armstrong, I 
would be well satisfied. There is very little winter pruning done on 
the Northern Sp}'. 



60 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC JS'OKTHWEST 

Q. Would yon try that method on any other variety than the 
Northern Spy? 

A. Do not try it on the Jonathan or the Wagener. They come 
into bearing about the fifth year. Encourage the Northern Spy and the 
Yellow Newtown. I find in most cases that they are over-pruned. They 
head in too much and the Yellow Newtown fills out lacking growth. 

Q. Would you recommend the variety system in planting an 
orchard ? 

A. Not very much. In my talk here last fall I remember coming 
across a man who grew quite a variety. It can be done all right. In 
fact, there are several such old orchards and some of them are worth 
as high as $2,000 an acre. Of course they wouldn't be worth that 
in four or five years unless very highly cultivated. When at Payette, 
Idaho, three years ago. I saAv an orchard where there were four rows 
of dwarfs a quarter of a mile long, and the owner told me that if he 
were planting again he would plant nothing but dwarfs. Steve Ham- 
ilton, of Bashaw, Wash., made quite a success of growing dwarfs. He 
is very enthusiastic about them. He has a fine grade of pears from 3- 
year-old trees this summer. 

Q. Are dwarf trees as long lived as other trees? 

A. Under some conditions there is not much difference. In Japan 
there are trees centuries old. 

Q. How many varieties of apples Avould you have in an orchard? 

A. Not over three. 

Q. How about the soil for cherries? 

A. The soil in the locality of Mosier is very good. They do the 
best on deep rolling soil where there is good drainage. There is a 
bright future here in the NortliAvest for cherry growing, and I don't 
know why more people are not interested in cherries. Willamette 
cherries as a shipping proposition are very inviting at the present time. 
I don't know why more people don't engage in prune growing. When 
one stops to consider the value of land, and what it cnsts to produce 
trees and grow a crop, it is the best proposition in the Northwest. 
While pears probably pay as much as anything else, they require more 
skill, but the prune industry has now come to a point where it is very 
profitable. There are prune men in Oregon who are making an aver- 
age of a hundred dollars an acre a year. A -lO-aere prune orchard can 
be handled as easily as a 10-acre apple orchard. 

Q. Do you consider the Lambert a good shipping cherry? 

A. Yes, there is no question that they can be shipped from all 
over this state. They have been shipped to New York in splendid con- 
dition. When we get large areas handling cherries, so that they can 
be shipped in carload lots and can be handled quickly for commercial 

% 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 61 

l^urposes. there is going to l)e a bright future here for the elierrv in- 
dustrj'. We have the entire country as a market, as California cherries 
are practically off the market when ours come in. 

Q. When does the Lambert cherry ripen? 

A. Last year, about the 8th or 10th of July. 

Q. What elevation is best for cherry-growing? 

A. I am inclined to think they can be grown best on an elevation 
of 1,000 or 1,200 feet. Such an elevation would bring into bearing 
and cause them to ripen earlier than a lower elevation. Cherry-grow- 
ing is a Yevy encouraging industry on some of the tablelands. Don't 
put them in heavy, wet, solid soils, as they will die. When put on suit- 
able soil there will be less of that so-called gumming. ]\Iany cherry 
trees die from lack of proper care. There is a foolish notion that they 
must not be pruned or cultivated. 

Q. Why is it that the Royal Anne cherry is more subject to gum- 
ming than others? 

A. I havn't ol)served that it is. 

Q. How is the Bing cherry for shipping? 

A. It is fine, especially at The Dalles, and in this valley it seems 
to be good. 

Q. How al)out prunegrowing in the Umpcpia Valley? 

A. There is not much doing just now. They used to grow Petites 
there, but the industry does not seem to advance much in that valley. 

Historical Notes. 

(As given in "The Apples of New York," l)y Beach.) 

Spitzenberg. 

Spitzenberg — Originated at Esopus, Ulster County, New York. 
We find- no authentic account of the date of its origin, but it is scat- 
tered throughout the state in the oldest orchards, and was known in 
Eastern States more than a century ago. It is known in cultivation in 
Europe, and is one of the recognized commercial varieties in certain 
apple-growing districts of the Rocky Mountain region, Washington 
and Oregon. 

Yellow Newtown. 

Yellow Newtown — The "Newtown- Pippin" was the first American 
apple which attracted attention in Europe. After the receipt of speci- 
mens by Franklin while in London in 1759, and the subsequent sending 
of grafts to Collinson by John Bartram, numerous attempts were made 



62 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

to grow the variety in England. As early as 1768 it was cultivated 
in the Brompton Park nursery nnder the name ''Newtown Pippin of 
New York." 

It is probable that the large apple exports of 1773 included con- 
siderable quantities of the Newtown, for it was at that time quite 
generally distributed through the apple-growing districts of the At- 
lantic slope. Thomas Jefferson recorded in his "Garden Book" that 
in March, 1773, grafts of "Newtown Pippin" received from Mordecai 
Debnam, at Sandy Point, were "ingrafted by P. Morton," and in 
]March, 1778, he noted that the grafted trees were planted out at 
Monticello. 

Prior to 1803 Forsyth said of the variety in England, "The New- 
town Pippin is a fine apple in good season, but seldom ripens with us. 
It is held in great esteem in America." McMahon, in 1808, included 
Newtown Pippin in his select list of "long-keeping apples," and also 
in a list of "cider apples." 

Previous to 1817 we have no record that more than one type of 
the Newtown was recognized, but Coxe, whose work appeared in that 
year, described as distinct varieties the "Large Yelloy NewtoAvn Pip- 
pin" and the "Green Newtown Pippin," characterizing the latter as 
"a variety of the preceding kind." Since the time of Coxe the two 
types have been recognized as distinct by our leading American pom- 
ologists, though fruitgrowers are by no means unanimous on this point. 

The original seedling tree of Newtown Pippin is alleged to have 
stood near a swamp on the estate of Gershom Moore, in Newtown, 
Long Island, until about 1905, when it died from excessive cutting of 
scions and exhaustion. Its origin is credited to the early part of the 
eighteenth century. It is not clear at this time whether the original 
tree was of the "green" or "yellow" type, nor has any record of a 
distinct origin of the two been discovered. 

Though first grown in commercial orchards in New York, New 
Jersey and Pennsylvania, the excellent quality of the fruit from some 
of the Potomac counties of Virginia was noted as early as the time 
of Coxe. 

In Albemarle county, Virginia, where it reached a high degree of 
perfection, it became known as the "Albemarle Pippin" at an early 
day, and was for many years considered a distinct variety of local 
origin, and Avas so propagated. 

An export trade in the fruit from Albemarle county was inaugu- 
rated under favorable auspices by a happy circumstance which oc- 
curred in the first year of the reign of Queen Victoria. 

The identity of Albemarle and Yellow Newtown seems to have 
been recorded first by the late Franklin Davis in a letter from Staun- 



VARIETIES AXn ENVIRONMENT 



C3 




young apple tiet; in Tlie Dalles district, Oregon. Note method of propping up the 
limbs, which originated in this district. 



ton. Va., which was published in the Horticulturist in 1857. Since that 
time most pomologists have accepted their identity, ascribing the 
slight variations which are observable to local soil or climatic condi- 
tions. But in the absence of an authentic record of the introduction 
of Yellow Newtown to Albemarle county, many orchardists in the 
Piedmont and mountain regions have continued to believe in the Albe- 
marle as a distinct variety of local origin. Recent investigation by 
]\Iessrs. H. L. Lyman and Samuel B. Woods, prominent citizens and 
fruit-growers of Charlottsville, Va., have resulted in an apparent 
clearing up of the historical uncertainty and establishing a clear con- 
nection between the supposed original Albemarle tree and the older 
variety. 

The Yellow Newtown has for many years been considered the bet- 
ter apple for exportation, however, and in commercial orchards has 
almost superseded the Green Newtown on account of its larger size, 
brighter color, and better keeping quality. Both sorts are exceedingly 
variable and susceptible to the influence of soil, climate, elevation above 
sea level, etc. They are successfully grown in but few portions of the 



64 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIB'IC NORTHWEST 

apple-producing area of the United States at the present time, the prin- 
cipal localities being the lower portion of the Hudson River Valley 
in New York, the Piedmont and mountain regions of Virginia and 
North Carolina, and portions of California, Oregon and Washington. 

Northern Spy. 

Northern Spy — Originated in a seedling orchard at East Bloom 
field, N. Y., which is famous for the production of this variety, the 
Early Joe and the Melon. This orchard was planted by Herman Chapin 
with seedling trees grown from seeds brought from Salisbury, Conn., 
about the year 1800. Sprouts from the original tree were taken up 
and planted by Roswell Humphrey and by him the first fruit of the 
Northern Spy was raised as the original tree died before bearing. 
In 1847 nine of the trees set out by Humphrey were still living. The 
variety was confined to the vicinity of its origin for many years, and 
it was not until about 1840 that it began to attract the attention of 
fruitgrowers in other localities. Its great value then came to be more 
widely recognized and in 1852 the American Pomological Society not 
only listed it as a variety of promise, but also as a variety worthy of 
general cultivation. Since that time it has become extensively planted, 
not only in New York, but in various other portions of the more north- 
ern apple-growing regions. 

Ortley. 

Ortley — This is an old New Jersey variety which. Coxe described 
under the name Woolman's Long Pippin. In 1825 Floy sent fruit of 
it to the Royal Horticultural Society, London, under the name of 
Ortley, and in the transactions of that society for that year Lindley 
described it under this name, giving Woolman's Long as a synonym. 
Kenrick Manning, Thomas Elliott, Charles Downing and other Amer- 
ican Pomologists, have followed Floy instead of Coxe and described 
the variety under the name of Ortley. Emmons gives Ortley as identi- 
cal with Warren Pippin of Coxe, but it is quite doubtful whether he 
was correct in this case. In portions of the South and West Ortley 
is an old favorite for planting in home orchards, and has there been 
known under many different names prominent among which are 
White Belleflower and White Detroit. 

Ben Davis. 

Ben Davis — The origin of this apple will probably never de defi- 
nitely known. It has been variously credited to Tennessee, Kentucky 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 65 

and Virginia. It is supposed to have originated al)out the beginning 
of the hist century. This view is supported hy the fact that before 
the Civil War it had spread throughout the states .just mentioned, and 
following the routes of migration had been carried into Southern In- 
diana, Illinois and generally disseminated throughout Missouri and 
Arkansas. Downing does not mention it in his first edition, but it is 
described in the first revision of his book on ''The Fruits and Fruit 
Trees of America." Warder refers to it as a comparatively new sort 
in Ohio and the Northwest, but common in the South and Southwest. 
During the last quarter century it has been disseminated extensively 
through all the apple-growing portions of the United States. 

Gano. 

Gano — Origin obscure. Brought to notice in JMissouri about 25 
years ago and disseminated under the name Gano. It is supposed by 
some that the original stock came from Kentucky. Some believe 
that Gano is the same as Black Ben Davis. It certainly resembles 
Black Ben Davis very closely, but the preponderance of evidence at 
present seems to favor the opinion that it is of distinct origin. 

Rhode Island Greening. 

Rhode Island; Greening — The locality of the origin of the Rhode 
Island Greening is not known with certaintj^, but there is little reason 
to doubt that it originated in the state of Rhode Island and probably 
in the vicinity of Newport, near the place now known as Green's End, 
where, in olden times, there Avas a tavern kept by Mr. Green, who 
raised apple trees from seed. Among the trees thus produced was one 
which bore a large green apple. The scions of this tree were in_such 
demand by the people who stopped there as guests that the tree died 
from excessive cutting and exhaustion. The fruit which resulted from 
grafting with scions was known by different names — in Rhode Island 
as the "Apple from Green's Inn," while in adjoining states it was 
called the "Green's Inn apple from Rhode Island." In the town of 
Foster, upon the farm of Thomas R. Drowne, at Mount Hygeia, stands 
an old Rhode Island Greening tree, which is supposed to be nearly 
200 years old. This, to the knowledge of the members of the family 
now living, has borne uninterruptedly until within a few years. On 
the farm of Frederick W. Winslow, a few rods southwest of the lime 
kiln on the northern verge of Fruit Hill, stands a Rhode Island Green- 
ing tree, which is locally known as the "Daughter Tree." This tree 
is a limb of the mother tree, which was broken off in the September 



66 APPLE GKOWI.XG IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

gale of 1815, and which, upon being thrust into the rich moist soil, 
took root and became an independent tree. The mother tree was 
planted in 1748. It was, therefore, 141 years old wdien it was cut 
down in 1889. Authentic records of trees of this variety that were 
planted about 150 years ago in the soil of North Providence on the 
farm of the late Lemuel Angell, are still in possession of that family. 
It was introduced into the old Plymouth colony from Newport in 
1765; from there it was carried into Ohio in 1796 by General Putnam. 
While we have no record of its earliest introduction into this state, 
it is well known that Rhode Island Greening was pretty widely dis- 
seminated in the older settled regions of New York during the 18th 
century. It is often found in the oldest orchards now in existence in 
New York, and also ranks as one of the most important varieties in 
recently planted orchards. 

Grimes Golden. 

Grimes Golden — Originated in AVest Virginia. Fruit from the 
original tree w^as sold to the New Orleans traders as long ago as 1804. 
It has become generally disseminated throughout the Ben Davis regions 
of the South, West and Southwest, where it is often planted for home 
use and is highly esteemed as a dessert apple, but it is not grown in 
many localities in the commercial orchards. It has long been known 
in scattering localities in New York and old trees of it are found in 
some orchards, but it has not been generally planted. 




Apple wagon in one of the iiig oichards of Oregon. 
% 



VARIETIES AND ENVIRONMENT 67 

Wagener. 

Wagener — The first published reference to the Wagener which 
we find is that given in the report of the New York State Agricultural 
Society for 1847, in which it was stated that it was awarded second 
premium as a seedling of merit. In 1848 it was again presented for 
competition and was placed by the committee in the list of first-class 
apples, awarded an additional premium and also a diploma. An illus- 
trated description of it was published in the report of this society 
for that year, with the remark, "This very fine apple the committee 
consider a desiral)le addition to the list of first-rate fruits. Its ap- 
pearance is prepossessing, as is also its size and form." An account 
of the history of the Wagener was also given, in which it was stated 
that in the spring of 1791, Mr. George Wheeler brought with him from 
Dover, Dutchess county. New York, to Penn Yan, Yates county, a 
quantity of apple seeds which he sowed that spring in the nursery 
upon his farm which he was then reclaiming from the wilderness. 
In 1795 Abraham Wagener, from whom the name of the apple is de- 
rived, bought this seedling nursery and planted trees from it upon 
his place, in what is now the village of Penn Yan. In 1848 it was re- 
marked that the old tree was producing an annual and abundant yield 
of beautiful and delicious fruit. It continued to bear full crops till 
about the year 1865. After it was brought to the notice of the State 
Agricultural Society the Wagener soon began to be propagated quite 
extensively, and it has since become widely disseminated throughout 
the country. In 1892 the Wagener was being offered quite generally 
by nurserymen throughout the country, except in the North Missis- 
sippi Valley, the Rocky Mountain region, and the plains from Ne- 
braska to Texas. It is generally known throughout New York but 
is not planted extensively in any section of the state. 

Winter Banana. 

Winter Banana — The Winter Banana originated on the farm of 
David Flory, near Adamsboro, Cass county, Indiana, about 1876. It 
was introduced by Grooning Brothers, Monroe, Mich., in 1890. It has 
as yet been but little planted in this state. 

Gravenstein. 

Gravenstein — The' following excellent account of the history of 
this variety was given by Hovey in 1851: "The origin of the Graven- 
stein remains in some douJjt. It is said to have been originally found 



68 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

ill the Duke of Augustinberg's garden at Gravenstein, in Holstein, 
and that the original tree was grown there in the middle of the last 
centur3^ Another statement is that it derived its name from being 
found in the garden of the castle of Crafonstein in Schleswig, and Diol 
says it was supposed by some to have been introduced from Italy. 
Be this as it may, it is a common apple throughout Germany and 
Sweden and was received from thence into English collections. It is 
undoubtedly of similar origin with the Red Astrachan and Duchess 
of Oldienburg, possessing the peculiar habit of growth, form of foli- 
age and texture of fruit which distinguish the German apples. 

"At what time it was first introduced into our gardens we are 
not aware, but as neither Coxe nor Thaeher describes or names it, 
we suppose it was some time subsequent to the account given of it in 
the transactions of the London Horticultural Society in 1822. It is at 
the present time considerably cultivated though not to the extent its 
merits deserve." 

In 1857 Captain De Wolfe stated that the Gravenstein was im- 
ported by him from Denmark in May, 1826. In a letter dated October 
11, 1829, published in the "New England Farmer," Judge Buel, of 
Albany, called attention to the importation of the Gravenstein and 
other German apple trees which he had presented to the members of the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Hovey states that in view of 
this it appears that the Gravenstein was imported to the vicinity of 
Albany probably prior to 1826. After these early importations Graven- 
stein gradually found its way into cultivation in various portions of the 
country. For many years it has been pretty generally disseminated 
through New York State, but in most localities it is grown to a limited 
extent only. 

Delicious. 

Stark Delicious — Delicious was originated at Peru, Madison coun- 
ty, Iowa (near Des Moines), by the late Jesse Hiatt, and on his farm 
the original tree still flourishes, bearing annual crops of as beautiful 
fruit of this variety as we have ever seen. 

In 1895 the Stark Bros, undertook the propagation and intro- 
duction of the Delicious, purchasing outright from INIr. Hiatt the sole 
right to it. 

The original tree of Delicious is now about fifteen years old and 
is thirteen inches in diameter at the ground. It makes a strong, vigor- 
ous growth, similar to the Winesap, except that the branches are 
stronger and need little or no pruning. Both tree and fruit are per- 
fect models. The tree is strong and has finely molded limbs, which 
are adapted' to bearing great weight of fruit. It does not sprout or 
sucker, does not succumb to blight, and has never shown signs of ten- 
derness. 



Building an Apple Tree 

A. I. Mason, of Hood Kiver. 

XWANT to state to yon with all sincerity that there is no part 
of orchard work as interesting as pruning. If I were to put a 
man thrcugh a test to ascertain whether or not he would become 
a successful orchardist, I would take him into an orchard and try to 
interest him for one hour in pruning. If I could not do that, I would 
tell him to sell out and let some one else have the job. If he could not 
become interested in forming a nice symmetrical round tree which can 
bear and retain fruit. I do not know another part of orchard 
work that would interest him. It is the most interesting part of the 
work to me. It was stated by one of the previous lecturers here that 
the subject of pruning is the most* difficult of the whole proposition, 
or rather the one upon which there was a greater difference of opinion. 
This is true. If I do not put things here tonight as you have heard 
them before, you will simply have to do like the rest of us did wheiL 
we started in the business — use your own judgment. I know that I do 
not agree with all of the growers, and I do not believe any two persons 
can be found who do. 

When starting to build an apple tree properly, it should be built 
like a house. Before one begins to build a house he studies what style 
of structure he wants, and he can almost see just how it is going to 
look when it is built. In building an apple tree, the same rule should 
])e followed. Determine what style of tree you want, start out with 
that end in view, and follow it to perfection. That is the only Avay 
an apple tree can be successfully built. Before starting to build, one 
should be careful in selecting his material, the same as in building a 
liouse. This part of the work was thoroughly gone over by Mr. 
Newell. 

I have two kinds of two-year-old trees with me this evening; 
one has side limbs, the other none. 

Mr. Mason used lantern slides to illustrate his lecture. Exhibit- 
ing the first slide, he said: 

"This represents the laying of the foundation of a tree; the be- 
ginning of it. The corner stone is being laid, so to speak. The hole 
has been dug. In one of the talks here something was said about a 
man at Hood River who digs holes 30 inches deep. If that is so, I 
have never heard of him, but we do dig holes 30 inches across and 



70 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




An apple orchard near The Dalles, Oregon. Note the poles from which ropes or wires 

are strung to support the limbs. This method of support was 

originated in this section. 



20 inches deep, so as to have plenty of surface soil. This little board 
across the hole is a tree setter. The sticks were put there when the 
hole was dug and then this board put back and the tree set in the 
same notch. Consequently, when the orchard is laid out, the hole dug 
and the tree set, the tree will be where the stick was. It was said in 
one lecture that we plant our trees eight or ten inches deeper. This 
is a mistake. I believe I have been the cause of advocating the plant- 
ing of trees deeper than some others. That eight or ten inches means 
from the top of the ground — eight or ten inches deep, not deeper. 
About 18 or 20 inches above the surface of the soil is the right place 
for a tree to be cut after being planted. 

Slide No. 2 represents the second year's growth. The tree was 
grown one season and is now ready to enter the next season. This 
tree when originally set was a one-year-old tree with limbs on it. 
About the middle of July I cut the limbs off here, then the following 
spring, or in the latter part of the winter the inside of the tree was 
cut out. One of the lecturers here stated that a young tree should 
not be pruned in the middle of the summer. Pruning an old tree in 
summer produces fruit spurs, but young trees should be allowed to 
grow as much as they will in summer. No doubt before that tree was 
pruned in the spring there were many limbs ion the inside, but there 
are now four limbs which mean so much ahead. One need not think 
he is going to get apples by pruning of that kind. I should have 



BUILDING AN APPLE TREE 



71 




One of the lamuus aiipl.' oivhards of the Rogue River Valley, near Medford. 



suggested that on straight switch growth as soon as the growth starts 
out along the limbs, rub these off, leaving four or five at the top. 
Later on they become the center or whirl for the top. I would prefer 
three or four for the main upright stalk, but one can not always get 
them as he wants them, consequenth^ he should let four of them start 
from the most symmetrical points around the body of the tree. 

Slide No. 3 represents a tree one year older. Of course that has 
been doubly pruned in summer and winter, although I always prune 
my young trees twice a year, which is perhaps not in accordance with 
other advocates, but we differ in opinion. I presume some of you 
think that is an older tree, but by counting the growth you will find 
it is pruned the same way. You Avill notice that I always have an 
open center to a tree. In other words, I leave the limbs all pointing 
outward toward the light. By all means, permit the center stalks 
which are to become your framework to grow ahead of all side limbs. 

After that I do not cut the ends of the limbs. You will notice 
(Slide No. 4) I have cut the laterals, but I cut them to laterals, leav- 
ing them to start out. It is simply a repetition of keeping out the in- 
side. This shows the fifth year of a tree. The entire growth is very 
stalky. 

Slide No. 5 represents the sixth, year. No more cutting back of 
the top of the tree is necessar}-, with the exception of long willowy 
growth tree. This is a Newtown. I cut my Spitzenberg trees back 
further whenever needed in the summer time. Some advocate the 
middle of August. One time I pruned three trees to test summer 



72 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

pruning. I selected three-year-old trees, all about the same size and 
as equal in eondition as possible. I pruned one the fifteenth of June; 
one the fifteenth of July, and one the fifteenth of August. I marked 
the trees with a knife on the side of the trunk, so no one could steal 
the mark away. The tree pruned on the fifteenth of June had almost 
a thicket of brush all over it and inside, and anywhere from three to 
four-groAvth terminal limbs. Eemember, I pruned all three trees alike. 
The tree pruned the fifteenth of July did not have more than one- 
third of the inside growth that the tree pruned June fifteenth had, and 
the limbs that started out on the terminals that I cut off were about 
one-half in number. The fifteenth of August pruning did not have 
inside growth, except now and then a little short sprout, perhaps three 
or four inches long, and the terminals only started from three to five 
inches and never matured. The winter was very mild. Had it been 
a hard winter, perhaps all that latter growth would have been lost. 

I have explained to you how to form or build a young apple tree — 
a tree that has not borne any fruit, but a tree with an open center 
that often times requires support. (Exhibits slide No. 6). I am 
amazed when I read an article from some professor or orchardist almost 
calling a man an ignoramus because he advocates an open-center tree, 
saying that it will not hold fruit, that it will split down with the 
frost and sleet, and using almost every argument that can be thought 
of. I am frank to admit that if a tree is not given some kind of a 
mechanical construction it will not be as strong as a center-top tree 
would be, but I propose to show you wherein we can add the genius 
of man to nature and make a far better tree than nature made for 
itself. 

Slide No. 7 represents a cross section of a tree about five or six 
years of age. These little black spots at "A" represent the main up- 
right stalk. Of course I have left off all the limbs. The lines in- 
dicated by "B" are two-ply hemp manila twine. Around each stalk 
is tied a twine string. By taking twice as much twine to circle them 
it is not as difficult as to put it around twice. You will notice that 
with these strings holding the limbs on all sides, it would be impos- 
sible for a heavy wind to bloAV the tree into any kind of shape. The 
moment the pressure of the wind left, it Avould go back to its natural 
position. The reason I prefer to go around in one loose lap, placing 
one end of the string here and there, is because I do not gird the 
body of the tree and prevent the flow of sap. This is put on the tree 
at the age of five or six years for the purpose of holding it in an up- 
right position until something better can be placed upon it. The twine 
used in the former illustration will last at least three years under 



BUILDING AN APPLE TREE 73 

our climatic conditions When the tree is eight or nine years old, the 
strings have rotted and are no longer strong enough to hold these up- 
rights with safety, for they are hearing fruit and under a heavy wind 
they are liable to be broken down. I put in my mechanical construc- 
tion for a lifetime. "A" represents the upright stalk of the tree. "B" 
represents a galvanized wire. This is a harness ring galvanized. At 
''A" this wire is fastened to the limb with a small screw eye about an 
inch in length. When they are all fastened to a center point of 
the tree, it is almost like an umbrella, absolutely impossible to break 
a tree at the crotch, to ever split it down with fruit, sleet or snow, 
or by anyone climbing it. 

The object of getting the system of supports as high from the 
ground as possible is to have a foundation, a point of contact 
from which one can begin to tie up limbs. The higher up the support, 
the better and stronger it will be, easier to put on the string, and easier 
to make the side limb support. The boy standing under the tree in 
this picture is about 5 feet 10 inches high. The limbs are about three 
feet above his head. It is only a matter of time when I will have to 
put another system of supports still higher, and I believe that will be 
the last. That part is experimental with me. It costs about 20 cents 
per tree to put in the wire support. The string support costs about 5 
cents. No orchardist can haul props out into his ^orchard and haul 
them back to his barn. A prop cannot be put in an orchard for less 
than three cents. One cannot go to the woods and cut them as we 
used to. They must be sawed at the mill, and then it costs about half 
a cent to put them up, and half a cent to put them back into the barn 
or throw them up along the fence row. In four or five years they are 
rotted out and, if you want to put in a cover crop, you have an army 
of props under your trees all in the way, and it takes from 15 to 20 
props for each tree. I have seen orchardists in our valley with that 
many under their trees. From an economic standpoint this system is 
far ahead of any I have ever seen. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How far apart do you plant? 

A. Twenty-five feet. I would never plant them that close again, 
but would plant 30 to 32 feet apart. 

Q. What system do you use in planting? 

A. I have always advocated the hexagonal system, and I be- 
lieve yet that it is tile best, but there is one strong argument in favor 
of the central system, and only one. You must determine whether you 
have the grit to go through with the proposition and at the age of 15 



74 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

or 20 dig out every other tree. There is not one man out of 10,000 who 
will take out a nice tree when it is 15 years old, so I say plant in 
hexagons. 

Q. How deep do you plant? 

A. From six to eight inches. Some stock grows deeper than oth- 
ers. Generally you ha\^e a small tree now and then planted from 
two to four inches deep. When that root has grown eight inches in 
diameter it is out of the ground and lying on top because it is growing 
upward. 

Q. Do you put your graft of the tree above or below the plant- 
ing board? 

A. Pay no attention to it. I want the roots on the under side. 

Q. What would happen if they were planted 12 inches deep ? 

A. Nature overcomes all difficulties. If it could get a lot of side 
roots started from the top it would soon start out another root system 
near the top. I do not think the roots of a young tree would amount 
to much that deep, and I do not think it would grow strong and 
thrive if planted 12 to 16 inches. 

Q. What time do you plant? 

A. That depends upon where you are planting. If your soil is 
light loam and in a good condition, I would plant any time of the 
year after the tree is dormant in the winter ; if the soil is heavy, wait 
until spring until your soil is dry. One party told you to make a 
muck to dip your trees in. Do nothing of the kind. Put your tree in 
a barrel of water. The water makes the roots fresh, and it is far 
better than muck, to put roots in. If you make muck to put roots in 
you will have a hard crust formed around the roots in a short time. 

Q. Is it possible to prune an open-headed tree so it will retain 
its fruit without artificial support? 

A. It is not, in my opinion. An open-headed tree would not be 
safe w^ithout artificial supports. As has been stated many times, the 
orchardist has to study his conditions under which he is working; 
climate, soil, etc., must all be solved. You have a different problem 
to solve; you have a stronger soil in the Willamette Valley. A tree 
will grow more rapidly, and you people down here prune too much 
at one time. As I told some of the people in Washington, they had 
stopped dehorning cattle and went to dehorning apple trees, and they 
have cut them all back. You cannot get any fruit buds in that way. 
In some of the orchards they just cut the tree to death. 

Q. Are there any prominent orchardists using the center-top 
tree ? 

A. I do not know what you mean by "center-top tree." The 
most of them in our valley cut out the main limb. It is not as popu- 



BUILDING AN APPLE TREE 



75 




Picking: apples in tlie Hood River Valley. 



lar as it was ten years ago. An open-headed tree and an open-center 
tree are two different things. I want the whole inside of the tree out 
so you can stand in there and work, so that I can get that tripod plat- 
form in there. I do not want any center stalks in there. 

Q. Do not the screw eyes injure the wood of the tree? 

A. They do not. The only objection that I ever heard offered 
to this wire system was that those wounds might create a spot in which 
the fire blight might enter the tree, or the pear blight, as it is some- 
times called. I have never had any trouble. I have not a single wound 
in my orchard caused from screw eyes. After about three years those 
screw eyes are embedded under the bark. I have 75 Spitzenbergs that 
would have been rotted long ago. When they were six years of age 
we had a very heavy snow which came about midnight, and it thawed 
off the next daj' about noon. It came the 11th day of November. The 
leaves had not dropped and the snow hanging on those leaves simply 
weighted the tree doAvn and they split all to pieces. That is why I 
adopted this system and they lay flat on the ground. With the help 
of a neighbor we drew these trees up and tied, bolted and nailed them. 
In one tree today there are five bolts and fourteen nails, and it is as 
perfect a tree as you ever saw. I have 69 of those trees and they 



76 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

were in as bad condition as a-qu ever saw, and j'ou cannot see a scar 
on them. If the iron were injurious I surely would have found it 
out by this time. 

Q. What prices were realized for the first-class apples at Hood 
River this year? 

A. $2.10 for Spitzenbergs and $2 for Newtowns, and I do not 
know what Ortleys did sell for. I believe something like $1.75 to $2. 

Q. Which brings the most money? 

A. Newtowns. The Spitzenberg is my favorite to eat, but I 
grow them for the other fellow. 

Q. In what part of the Hood River Valley do you live? 

A. About the middle. Six hundred feet elevation. 

Q. What is the name of your orchard? 

A. That is an embarrassing question. "Liberty Home." Never 
had any liberty until I got there, either. That is no joshing. I worked 
on a salary for 40 years and had to keep my mouth shut and say 
nothing on public questions. 

Q. Is there any advantage in white-washing the bodies of trees? 

A. Yes. First it prevents the tree from absorbing the sun's rays 
and heating up the body of the tree. Second, you mix that with some 
kind of disinfectant or germ destroyer, such as concentrated lye, and 
it cleanses the tree; lastly, it beautifies your orchard. 

Q. Do you do that .every year ? 

A. I try to. It is not an expensive job if you know how to do it. 
Use your steam sprayer. I started in with a brush until the bodies 
of the trees got so large it took too long, so I rigged up the steam 
sprayer and went over the whole orchard in about half a day. 

Q. What strength do you make it? 

A. Just a thin paste, adding concentrated lye to it. That is as 
good a cleanser as I know of. I also add salt to make it stick to the 
tree. 

Q. Would it hurt to paint the body of the tree ? 

A. Under no condition would I allow a man to put paint on a 
tree of mine. I prefer grafting wax. It is as cheap as paint and 
easier to put on, and no comparison in results. I have trees that have 
been grafted with wax five years ago. The limbs were from three to 
four inches in diameter and when the wax was scraped off they were 
about as bright as Avhen they were cut. You cannot paint a limb and 
leave it for 18 months without having a check down through it from 
three to eighteen inches deep, and down at the bottom you will find a 
little fungus growth, especially on end cuts. I keep a 10-pound lard 
bucket of wax on hand all the time. 

Q. What is the cause of black heart in trees? 



BUILDING AN Al'PLE TREE 77 

A. I do not know. There are many things that might cause the 
center of a tree to rot. It might start from the wound of a„limb that 
is broken or sawed off, or from a freeze. I would say cut out such a 
spot and fill it with grafting wax. 

Q. How many times do you cultivate? 

A. The cultivation depends upon what you start it with. As a 
rule I disc my orchard three times and then I spring-tooth harrow. 
One should have clean cultivation. Keep your cultivator going. Do 
not think about irrigation if you want to raise apples in the Willam- 
ette Valley. You had better put some kind of a screen over the trees 
about the time the apples begin to ripen to keep the rain off. 

Q. Do you irrigate? 

A. No. I never had a drop of irrigation on my orchard. 

Q. How often do you sow a cover crop? 

A. I have had it in my orchard for three years. If next j^ear 
is a light crop. I am going to sow it again next season. You can grow 
three times the amount of a cover crop here in the Willamette Valley 
that M^e can, as you have a moister soil. 

Q. What time do you sow it? 

A The first of September, so as to get the benefit of the first 
moisture. 

Q. What kind of a fertilizer do you use to bring the trees to early 
maturity? 

A. I should want some kind of a machine to extract all the fer- 
tilizer out of the soil. That is after you get your first bearing tree. 
You do not need any fertilizer after the orchard has borne several 
crops of fruit. The kind of fertilizer is another of our future prob- 
lems to solve, and we are trying to head it off with vetch. 

Q. What do you use to stimulate the growth of the tree? 

A. Any kind of a fertilizer will do. The best that I can give is 
ordinary barnyard manure. There are a dozen kinds of commercial 
fertilizers. Several big companies are carrying on results in our 
valley now. 

Q. Do you believe in putting fertilizer in Avith the roots in 
planting? 

A. No, I do not. I do not think it necessary unless the soil is 
very poor, then you show poor judgment in planting it. 

Q. Do you summer prune your old orchard? 

A. Now I am going to be like the preacher. I am going to tell 
you what to do, whether I do it or not. I do not cut back except on 
Spitzenbergs. Newtowns do not need it. You should take out all this 
inside growth. It shades your tree, prevents circulation of air through 
the tree and destroys the coloring of the fruit. 




Apples from Walla Walla Valley, Washington. 



BriLDING AN APPLE TREE 79 

Q. How do you do grafting? 

A. With a knife, pair of shears, wax and a cloth. I cannot il- 
lustrate that very well unless I have some tools. 

Q. What time of year do you graft? 

A. In the spring, about blossoming time. 

Q. Where do you get your sprouts? 

A. The previous year I get them off the larger trees. Cut it now, 
put it in the cellar and in the spring take and cut that up into a scion. 
Use two buds. Cut a pointed, wedge and put it on the outside. 

Q. What is the limit of the size of stub capable of grafting? 

A. I cut limbs off up to five inches through. 

Q. Could it be done eight inches through? 

A. I believe I would allow a water sprout to grow and graft 
a bud on the water sprout. 

Q. Do you advocate more than one graft in the wound? 

A, Yes, but do not allow but one of these grafts to form and 
become an upright limb, because they form a crotch that would never 
unite. Suppose I had tw^o grafts growing out of the same stub, and 
they were three or four inches apart, and I let them both grow. After 
a while they are going to increase in diameter and will come together, 
but will never unite, so there will be a crotch. 

Q. Is burning log and brush piles injurious to the land? 

A. No. I wish I could have all the brush piles and logs in Oregon 
burned in my orchard. 

Q. Do you advocate planting immediately after the land is 
cleared ? 

A. I did, and have never regretted it. I will admit this, that 
if you cultivate your land one year, you will get a better growth by 
planting the second year, but you will never make up for what you 
lose the first year. When I bought my land it had not been surveyed 
for 41 years, and when we came to resurvey it the first time after the 
government survey, I got 29 feet of my neighbor's wheat field that 
had been cultivated for 11 years. The first few years these rows of 
trees on the old wheat field Avere far ahead of the others, but one 
cannot tell the difference now. 

Q. Do you advocate a filler crop ? 

A. No. Between mj- house and town there is a beautiful illus- 
tration of a filler crop. Trees were planted 24 feet apart and a peach 
tree in the middle. It was a combination affair. One was to take 
charge of it for so many years. This man was going to get rich the 
first ten years. The result was that this was the first season he has 
had a crop of peaches, and they are 5 years old. He had a few year 
before last, and last year the frost killed them. This year there was a 



so APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

heavy crop and they lay on the ground and rotted. Yon people would 
not have given 35 cents a box for them. This man and his employer 
had a row and every one of these peach trees are out now. The peach 
trees got the strength that the apple trees needed now that they are 
ready to bear. It is an expensive proposition to pay 2 cents for a 
peach tree, plant it, cultivate it for five years and then get one crop 
not worth 35 cents a box. 

Q. How do grapes grow in the Hood River Valley? 

A. They do not grow well. The nights are too cold and they will 
not ripen. 

Q. "What do you think of strawberries between the apple trees? 

A. Just the same as I think of any kind of a filler. I would 
never have them in my orchard. Strawberries recjuire water to make 
money out of them. One must irrigate and that almost drowns the 
trees. 

Q. How about clover? 

A. You cannot grow clover and cultivate. That is an impos- 
sibility. You people here perhaps can, but we cannot. 

Q. How would tin cans buried under the trees affect them? 

A. I do not know. I know of someone who is getting all the 
iron screenings and burying them under his Spitzenbergs to find out 
what effect they will have on color. I will let you know in ten years. 

Q. At what elevation do they plant Spitzenbergs in Hood Eiver? 

A. Do not be misled by altitude. Sometimes it means something 
and sometimes it does not. My orchard is 600 feet above sea level, 
and in Missouri and Kansas orchards are from 2,000 to 3,000 feet in 
elevation. An orchard would freeze in Hood Eiver at that elevation. 
You want to figure on the proximity to the snow line. The climate 
60 or 75 miles east of The Dalles is very different from ours. We 
are right up against ]\Iount Hood and Mount Adams. 

Q. How about the Delicious? 

A. That is a nice eating apple and has as good a flavor as I 
ever tasted, l)ut I would not plant it commercially in our valley. It 
is hard to get color on and is ugly shaped, which makes it hard to pack. 

Q. Why do you not plant Spitzenbergs, when they bring the 
highest price? 

A. The price which you pay for a box of apples is not always 
the most money to the grower. 

Q. Do you use pollenizers for Spitzenbergs? 

A. I do not know anything about pollenization, antl I never 
found anyone who did, not even our college men. I l)elieve the cross- 
polleuization of the fruit family should be the same as in the animal 



BUILDING AN APPLE TREE 81 

kingdom, but I do not know what varieties crossed with others will 
produce best results. 

Q. Do you believe with the present rate of planting there will 
be an over-production in a few years'? 

A. Yes and no. Yes, if we are all a set of fools and are going 
to fight each other on the market and not use business judgment. 

Q. Do you think it honest to buy land for $16 per acre and sell 
it for $265 ? 

A. I have a piece of land that cost $9.25 per acre and I would 
not take $2,500 per acre. Would I be honest? I know of a man who 
bought tAvo acres for which he paid $500 per acre and it is just as 
nature put it there. It has never been touched by mortal man. That 
$500 is community-made value. If you want to turn this into a single 
tax proposition I could talk all night. I can talk "single tax" better 
than apples. 



Development of Apple Trees 

W. S. Thornber, of the Washington State College. 

QRUNING is done for various reasons. There are different ideas 
upon this subject. One of my college friends has thirteen rea- 
sons for pruning, and I want to give you two or three tonight. 

First of all a tree should be pruned because it develops many more 
buds and branches than it can possibly produce. Nature is waste- 
ful. A tree may develop anywhere from 120 to 200 buds the first year 
•of its life, and the next year only three or four will develop any limbs, 
so nature must be taken in hand, as one might say, and helped control 
these tendencies. Secondly, to secure the shape and size of tree that 
is wanted. 

There are three distinct seasons of the year when pruning can be 
done to advantage in our state. Your state is so much like ours that 
I think one can follow in the same line. The first pruning is done in 
the early spring, before the buds leaf out. The pruning done at this 
season of the year always has a tendency toward the production of 
Avood. That is a good thing in young trees, and in ones which one 
wishes to rejuvenate. The second, or early summer pruning may be 
done in June. The third period of pruning is in the late summer. 

As an experiment we had started several hundred young trans- 
planted apple trees about five years old. We started on June 10, and 
pruned a portion of them very severely. On June 20 we pruned the 
next lot, and on June 30 we pruned another lot, and so on during the 
entire summer. The trees pruned on June 10 made the greatest wood 
growth I ever saw. The limbs were three feet in length, and I could 
see the scale of growth running up to August 30, when the growth in 
this case was only about four inches. The trees pruned August ]Oth 
ceased growth entirely, and I secured buds about an inch in length. 
That is where I got my first fruit. If your orchard is a cultivated one 
it must be pruned later. If an orchard in which one grows hay and 
raises calves, goats and cows, one must prune earlier. 

Now comes the formation of a tree. There are three types of trees : 
High-headed trees, low-headed trees, and bush trees. These three types 
are found all over the Pacific Northwest. The low-headed type is the 
one I am going to urge very strongly tonight — a tree that is from 12 
to 20 inches — very near the ground. There is danger in heading the 



DEVELOPMENT OF APPLE TREES 83 

bush tree too low. Branches coming absolutely from the ground do 
not form as perfect a union with the trunk as they should, and in a 
short time they will start to pull apart. 

The next subject is the shaping of a tree, the head, and a good solid 
short trunk. First of all is the pyramid head. Our Canadian and Eng- 
lish friends are very partial to this system. The pyramids are exposed 
to a small amount of light, which gives a poor quality of fruit, and in 
times of storm they break down quite readily. 

The second type of tree is the open base, which is just the reverse 
of the pyramid and might be called a vase — clear open in the center. 
That is the best tree. Just a few words about the frame work. The 
branches must be on all sides of the tree and a long distance apart. If 
bunched together they produce weak branches, and one side of the 
tree will become lopped. The limbs should be well spread apart to 
give them strength. I do not want anything in my orchard but a first- 
class tree, from three to four feet in height, with a good sturdy system 
and a heavy stem, with buds all the way down. Cut a tree off 24 inches 
from the ground. That is the most important pruning that one will 
ever give his tree. Do this if you never do any more. No other prun- 
ing should be necessary for the first year. 

I was traveling through the Yakima Valley some time ago, and I 
noted a peach orchard of nice trees. The man who was pruning them 
put his arms around the limbs of a tree, bringing them to a single 
bunch, and sliced the top off. I said to him, "What were you before you 
became a horticulturist?" He said, "I was a barber." Do not prac- 
tice any barbarous systems on your trees. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How about walnuts? 

A. I would prune the walnut trees straight up, giving a good 
straight shape. 

Q. Do you advise mulching or digging around them? 

A. I would pulverize the soil and keep it well cultivated. A good 
dust mulch is the best that can be provided. 

Q. What is your recommendation in regard to dwarf apples for 
fillers ? 

A. In Western Washington and Oregon, where there is clay soil, 
I would recommend the pear as a filler. 

Q. How deep do you advise planting? 

A. Two inches deeper than what they were in the nursery. 

Q. Is there any advantage in putting them four or six inches 
down? 



84 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. I do not think there is an}^ 

Q. Do you recommend the square or hexagonal system? 

A. That depends upon conditions. If it is to develop a big com- 
mercial orchard, I would plant the hexagonal system, but where one 
must grow something among the trees and have as wide a space as pos- 
sible, I would recommend the square system. 

Q. How is the Wagener tree for a filler? 

A. It is one of our best fillers and comes into bearing early. It 
produces fair crops the fourth year after planting, and some the 
second year. 

Q. Do you recommend fillers for a commercial orchard? 

A. Yes, I want to get all the returns I can just as soon as I can. 
The only danger is that the filler Avill be left in the orchard too long. 

Q. Would it be better to use pears? 

A. Pears make a better filler. 

Q. How about strawberries? 

A. They are very good if not planted too closely to the trees. I 
do not want any permanent thing growing closer than four feet to a 
two-year-old apple tree, and no closer than six feet to a four-year- 
old apple tree. 

Q. Don't you think it is best to plant trees so as to make a spe- 
cialty of berries and keep that up indefinitely? 

A. I have no doubt about that. There are splendid returns being 
made in that way. but they must be fertilized. 

Q. "What is the principal objection to starting only three limbs 
on a tree? 

A. One may lose a liml) and then he will have the worst kind of 
a tree. 

Q. Have you been trying any of Burbank's productions? 

A. Yes. but they do not work well with us. My last big loss was 
rhubarb. Probably 2000 roots died. Some of their plants are very 
good, but they are not adapted to our conditions. 

Q. How about irrigation? 

A. That depends upon the soil. We irrigate three times a year. 
Other places irrigate five or six, and some 10 or 12. Three good irriga- 
tions should be sufficient. 

Q. Do irrigated apples keep well? 
A. Yes, if they are not over-irrigated. 

Q. What do you think about irrigating where it is not necessary? 
A. I would not irrigate in that case. It is not necessary until 
there is a crop on the tree, and not always then, but it is mighty good 
insurance to have. I believe in irrigating all things in an orchard. 



DEVELOPMENT OF APPLE TREES 



85 



Q. How soon can you bring the Northern Spy into bearing by 
summer pruning ? 

A. I have brought it into bearing in Eastern Washington in the 
fourth 3'ear. I had a strong tree to start with, and the tree developed 
five or six limbs in June the first year. I pruned that tree in June as I 
ordinarily would the following year, and got a growth where the 
branches were from 18 to 24 inches in length. I made a 3-year-old tree 
of it in two years. 

Q. What is considered a good growth for the first year? 

A. From 18 inches to three feet. If I do not get 18 inches, I think 
there is something wrong, either a lack of moisture, or late planting. 

Q. What would you think of trees in an orchard that grow to an 
unequal height — some 40 inches and others four feet, when they have 
been newly planted? 

A. I will answer that by asking you how you take certain trees 
from a bunch, some living and some dead? The answer is that trees 
coming from the center of the bunch have frequently dried out. and it 
may be the same in your planting. 

Q. Do you have any white mildew, and what do you do for it? 




Exhibit of Hood River Valley (Oil^uhj alilJlL.■^, :;ho\vins' various methods of packing. 



86 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. Yes, I think we have everything there is in the "West. We use 
lime-sulphur spray each year. 

Q. What is the per cent of new trees that die? 

A. That is rather a difficult question. I should judge that we lost 
on an average 30 per cent last year in our State. Usually the per cent 
is not so much as that. 

Q. What is the best time to plant? 

A. Early in the spring. In Western Oregon, possibly fall plant- 
ing would be better, or very early spring planting. 

Q. How do you trim the roots? 

A. I turn them up so I can look right at the bottom of the roots, 
and trim them from four to eight inches in length. Any fibrous roots 
I pull out, as they are usually dead. 

Q. How do you plant a tree ? 

A. I dig a hole large enough to accommodate the roots, so it will 
be two inches deeper than in the nursery row. When the tree is set, I 
get down into the hole vv^itli both feet and tramp all the way around it. 
When a tree is planted in this manner it is very rarely that one is lost. 

Q. Where the soil is very dry and sandy, wouldn't it be better to 
plant two or three inches deeper? 

A. No, I would rather get it by cultivation. We have that kind 
of soil and are uot planting any deeper. We use. however, a little 
heavier stock where the soil is liable to be blown about and the sand 
cuts the trees. 

Q. How about Clark County? 

A. It is a gravelly loam and a wash soil. Any soils of that kind, 
where there is not a hardpan closer than three feet, is all right for 
orchard work. 

Q. What slope do you recommend? 

A. In orchard work generally, where there is any danger of 
-hortage of color, I prefer a south slope. Ordinarily we get plenty of 
color anyway, so I pay little attention to the slope. In Eastern Wash- 
ington, where there is danger of freezing a northern slope is preferable 
— north or northeast. 

Q. How about subsoils? 

A. I want a porous subsoil. 

Q. Clark County orchardists are going out of prune-raising a 
good deal. 

A. I notice the orchards that have been taken care of have been 
moneymakers right straight along in Clark County, but there are some 
conditions there that we have not been able to meet yet. In spite of 
that, they are planting more prunes now than during the last 12 or 
14 years. 

Q. What influence has the soil? 

A. It depends upon the chemical content of the soil. A light 
quality soil colors apples more readily than a dark quality soil. 



DEVELOPMENT OF APPLE TREES 87 

Q. Does pollination affect color? 

A. The effect is very slight. However, I wonld take advantage of 
it. If I had apples that were liable to run light-colored, like some of 
our Spitzenbergs, I would plant some dark ones in the orchard, like 
Arkansas Black. 

Q. What variety of apples would you suggest? 

A. Baldwin, Northern Spy, the Wagener and possibly the Jona- 
than. These are for red apples. For yellow apples. Yellow Newtown, 
Grimes Golden, Ortley and Red Cheek. 

Q. How do the Yellow Newtown and the Spitzenberg do in the 
Yakima Valley ? 

A. Very well. I do not think the results are as good as in the 
Hood River section, but our Yellow Newtowns are coming out well. 

Q. Do snow mountains affect orchards? 

A. Only as the cold air comes down. 

Q. What do you recommend for White Salmon? 

A. Spitzenberg, Yellow Newtown, Ortley, Baldwin, Wagener. 

Q. How do pears do on clay soil? 

A. They are right at home in clay soil. Some of the best pear 
land I know of in the United States is over here north. 

Q. Does it make any difference in the elevation? 

A. Not very much. Of course, one gets a little smaller sized 
apples on heavy dry soils. 

Q. How about this central selling agency ? 

A. I think we will have to get to that. We will have to get to- 
gether on some basis of that kind. In California they have been get- 
ting on with their orange problem in that way very nicely. 

Q. Has pear blight ever done any damage here in the Northwest?" 

A. Yes ; 14 years ago a good many pear orchards were destroyed 
by pear blight. I do not dread it at all. It is not a serious problem. I 
do not think there has ever been any pear blight between Portland and 
British Columbia. I have never seen any indication of it. 

Q. Does it attack the young trees? 

A. Yes. I have seen near Walla Walla a 2-year-old pear orchard, 
90 per cent of which was killed by pear blight. 

Q. What is its first appearance and how does it look ? 

A. The first appearance that you will see is when the trees are in 
bloom. The blossoms become rusty and the leaves turn black. 

Q. Does it attack apples? 

A. Yes. I got my first experience with pear blight with apples. 

Q. How about keeping bees in an orchard? 

A. Keep bees by all means to carry the pollen. 

Q. Don't they die from the poison spray? 

A. One can spray at such a season of the year that it will not 
harm them, say after the petals are off. It is with the early spraying 
that one catches the bees. 




Picking apples in the Walla Walla Valley, Washington. 



Pruning 

Hon. W. K. Newell, President of the Oregon State Board of Horticlture. 

CO plunge into my subject at once, that of pruning, I think it is 
best to say first that it is perhaps one of the most difficult sub- 
jects to present clearlj- before an audience without a tree or two 
to illustrate with. If I could take you into an orchard, I could illustrate 
very much better the plan or practice of pruning than I can possibly 
do here this evening. 

I think there is not a single branch of the subject of horticulture 
in which there is such a wide diversity of opinion among horticulturists 
ns in the practice of pruning. It is harder to lay down any definite 
rules in regard to pruning than in regard to almost any of the other 
related branches. • We all agree very closely hoAv trees should be 
planted, cultivated and sprayed, but when it comes to the matter of 
pruning the tree, it is much more a matter of opinion. Hence the be- 
ginner has the greatest difficulty in getting proper advice. I have 
brought some trees here so I could do a little bit of illustrating. 

First a few words about selecting a nursery tree before we come to 
pruning. These trees represent the different grades. They are all root- 
budded trees. I wish to impress upon you first the advantage of get- 
ting a budded tree instead of what is frequently sold, a piece-root 
grafted tree. These budded trees usually come from France as 1-year- 
old seedlings. A great many of the French peasant farmers make a 
business of growing them. The seeds are gathered throughout the 
country. They grow them one year and then dig them up in November 
or December and ship them to the United States, mostly to our nurseries 
as apple seedlings, where they are planted out in February, March or 
April and grown until August when they begin budding them 12, 18 
and 20 inches. They cut a bud from the bearing tree that they wish to 
propagate, make a slit in the bark of the seedlings and insert that bud 
under the bark and tie it there, and the bud immediately joins with the 
tree. It remains dormant until the following spring. Then the seed- 
ling is cut just above the bud, which growls and makes the tree. Here 
is a tree one year old from the bud,. but it is practically three years 
old. You know the difference between that and the piece-root grafted 
tree is that when that seedling comes from the nurseryman he will 
take and prune it, leaving about four or five inches of the root on the 
top and plant that to bud from. This will be pruned and watered 



90 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

thropyhout the season, thus forcing the root which will sell the same 
yonr, and to all appearances it is just as good a tree as the budded one, 
hut Acu can readily see that it is impossible for that tree to have ths 
same root system as this which has been growing two years lonjicr. 

There is a distinction again between grafted trees as they are fre- 
quently grown and between these piece-root grafts. If that buJ fails to 
grow in August, the nurseryman will go in February or March and cut 
that seedling off next trO the ground and insert a graft here on the 
seedling root, which, will come on and make a tree by fall that will 
practically be as good as the budded tree, because it has the same root 
system. A tree that has been budded on a 3-year-old root is worth 
double or treble the piece-root grafted tree, and that is a point one 
should always look for in purchasing trees. There is another point. 
The nurseryman grades his trees. First grades are four to six feet 
high, and what is known as No. 2 grade runs three to five feet in 
height, and No. 3 are trees under three feet in height. The great 
tendency among purchasers is to fasten upon the biggest tree that it is 
possible to get. They want a four to six-foot tree rather than a smaller 
one, but height alone should not be the guide in selecting the tree. It 
is fully as important — I should say more important — ^that the tree 
should show good caliber here than that it should show height alone. 
We should pay more attention to that< Many times you can get the 
trees for much less money of this size than you can for the larger. 

Now, as regards pruning : If this tree could be taken up from 
the nursery with all the dirt left on it, of course it could be transferred 
without much of the root pruning, but if this tree is dug in November, 
as is usual, and carried over the winter to January, February or March 
before it is planted, it is inevitable that these smaller roots would be- 
come dry and dead, so when this tree is planted all these small roots 
should be pruned off. The reason is that those roots are so dry that the 
tips will die anyway and the tree would make a start quicker if the 
roots are cut off than if they were left to encumber its growth. The top 
should be pruned vigorously and the roots should be left from four to 
six inches long, and headed back by making a cut on the under side of 
the root and sloping in that manner so that when the tree is planted 
this cut surface will point down to the bottom of the hole that will tend 
to form a callous where it is cut and throw out the first feeding roots, 
so that the cut does not have a chance to dry. This will then force 
itself down and anchor the tree good and solid, but if all these slender 
roots were left every one of them would be turning up, and the ten- 
dency of the roots would be to grow to the top of the soil. A tree 
pruned in that shape is very easily planted and has all the root sys- 
tem that is necessary to thoroughly anchor the tree in the ground. It 



PRUNING 91 

should then be set down to about two inches below where the bud was 
inserted as it stands in the nursery — Just barely above the ground — 
and that puts the roots down far enough so that when the dirt is prop- 
erly tramped around it (tramp it good and solid with both feet) it is 
going to start growth at once. This pruning should not be done until 
you are ready to plant. If it is a sunshiny or windy day, it is a good 
plan to puddle the tree. This can be done by dipping the tree into a 
barrel of liquid mud. Place the barrel on a sled, and as soon as the 
tree is dipped, take it out and put it into the hole at once. 

If you allow the surface to dry it will harden over and not start 
to grow for a long time. In this climate it is always preferable to 
plant trees in the fall if possible. There is another point that you must 
remember. If trees are to be planted in the fall, do not get trees that 
are too green. If you are in a hurry and insist upon the nurseryman 
taking out these trees and shipping them before they are ready, he 
must strip the leaves of£ and dig them prematurely, before they have 
perfectly ripened. Trees are sure to suffer from that practice. If 
not able to plant trees in the fall, it is a good practice to buy them in 
the fall and have them shipped to your place and heel them in. The 
trees will winter very much better in an orchard heeled in than they 
will in the nurseryman's packing shed. When purchasing trees use 
good business sense as j^ou do in buying other things. Do not wait for 
an agent to come around and coax you into buying a tree. No nur- 
seryman likes to do this, but they have been almost forced to because 
people will not buy other Avise. ]\Iake it a practice to go to the nursery- 
man direct and, if possible, go to his nursery and make your selections. 

If trees are planted in the fall head them back about 18 or 20 
inches from the ground the latter part of February. Cut about half 
an inch above the bud. That allows bud room enough there so it will 
heal over nicely without dying back or allowing any dead Avood. That 
is the way a tree wants to be pruned the first year. Always plant 
one-year-old trees; not two. (Exhibits tree.) One can prune and 
spread just as one wants to. It has been headed in the nursery row 
about a foot higher than it ought to be in the orchard. That is another 
practice which demand forces the nurseryman to follow. Nearly 
everyone who goes to buy a tree wants it like this, and the nursery- 
man naturally has it up here to make a good big tree — the kind you 
want. Otherwise this tree has grown very nicely. At the end of the 
first season this has made a very good branch. You will notice that 
these limbs are very well scattered all over the trunk of the tree and 
do not all come out Just at one point. When this is headed back in 
this manner every bud practically all over the tree from the ground 
up will grow in the spring. In fact, they seem to grow two or three 



92 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

inches longer than one wants them. Rub off the lower ones, leaving 
from six to eight of the top buds (certainly not less than five). Do 
not leave just the four or five top ones nor rub all in one place. This 
is practically all a tree should have in the way of pruning the first 
summer. Some people make a practice of pruning in August if the 
trees are making too much growth. That may be all right in windy 
locations where the wind whips the twigs over to one side in order to 
make them stiff enough to stand up against the wind, but that only 
happens in a few localities. Let the tree grow as tall as it will the 
first year. 

What we want to do is to frame up the skeleton of a tree in such 
a manner that it will begin to throw out and form width, yet grow up 
instead of growing out and falling down to the ground so that one 
cannot get near it to cultivate. Bring it out and tone it up so that it 
makes a vase shape, keeping the body of the tree close to the ground, 
heading it up sufficiently so that an extension harrow with three 
or four horses abreast can be worked throughout the orchard and 
clear under the tree. When three limbs grow out close together they 
will not be properly distributed, so the first thing is to take a limb 
right out. It should be pointed up so that it will get plenty of sun- 
shine inside and still allow most of the limbs to remain. There is an- 
other point that must be borne in mind ; that is the kind of tree to be 
pruned. Some trees, like the Northern Spy, tend to grow straight up 
and make twice the growth in height as they do in width. Other trees, 
like Jonathans, for instance, tend to grow out and fall down. When 
pruning a Northern Spy tree, prune invariably to an outside bud the 
first two or three years so the tree will spread out. On a Jonathan 
tree these limbs have a downward tendency and should be pruned to 
an inside bud in order to keep it from spreading out and lopping over 
too far. The NewtoAvn Pippin has not a very pronounced tendency 
either way. It grows c(uite nicely and should be pruned something like 
this: (Exhibits tree.) Begin Avith this bud, throwing it in that di- 
rection, and this twig here. This tree should be down 18 inches from 
the ground with this top. That would bring these limbs within 10 or 
12 inches of the ground. This should be done in February. Pruning 
of young trees should never be done until the freezing weather is past. 
After the trees get older they can be pruned any time with safety. If 
one prunes a tree at this time of the year these end buds might kill 
back. Of course, every bud on these limbs will start as soon as the 
limbs start, and they want to ])e rubbed off within 12 inches of the 
ground. Along in June if they get too thick, prune out a portion of 
the inside buds that are starting. I would not practice any heading 
back this second summer except in a very windy location. Every tree 



PRUNING 93 

should be induced to grow fast and strong for wood growth, and this 
is accomplished by pruning in the winter time. The general practice 
of pruning in the winter for wood growth and in the summer for fruit 
growth holds good. 

At the end of the second year and at the beginning of the third 
head these limbs again, which should then be from two to four feet 
long, and the same general principle should be involved, heading these 
back one-half to two-thirds of their growth, thus making the limbs 
strong and stocky so that they will not break down under the load of 
fruit. Never let two limbs start at the same point making a "Y, " be- 
cause invariably they will split down. At the beginning of the third 
season, starting in June, thin those limbs out again, and then again 
about the middle of August. If the tree is making good, rapid growth, 
head back that season's growth anywhere from one-fourth to one- 
third of its growth. This will tend to check the limbs. There is no 
reason why a tree should grow six or seven years without bearing. 
It should begin to bear by the fourth or fifth year, and it is simply a 
question of proper pruning to bring them into bearing. The Northern 
Spy takes from 10 to 12 years, but it can be forced into bearing in four 
years by proper pruning. The third summer is the time to begin the 
encouragement of the formation of fruit buds. The time of year to 
do this depends upon climatic conditions. As a general rule it can be 
done the first three weeks in August ; sometimes a little later, perhaps. 
The wood growth is largely over by the first of August, and the tree 
then begins to spread out and increase in caliber rather than in height. 
That will tend to force out these bud into fruit buds and the tree should 
bear a few apples the next season. 

Practice thinning in the winter time and head back in the sum- 
mer. A tree can lie kept bearing practically regular crops. Of course, 
it is impossible to keep any tree bearing a full crop regularly, but 
wonders can be done ])y this system of pruning. 

A bud, if allowed to grow all summer, naturally goes into the end 
buds, and the fruit buds do not have an equal chance. The other one 
has to be cut off in order to force the sap back. It naturally goes to 
the end of the limb. The fruit buds cannot get any sap until after 
the end of the liml) has gotten all it wants. 

(Exhibits liml) with half-grown apples.) This is a very interesting 
sample of what can be accomplished by summer pruning. This limb 
came from the orchard of Mr. J. E. Stanbury, inspector of horticul- 
ture for Multnomah county. It was headed back the 9th day of Au- 
gust, just as I have been trying to illustrate to you, by cutting back 
a year's growth and trying to force the formation of fruit buds. These 



PRUXING 95 

fruit buds, which naturally would have been very small, have been 
forced out here this fall and have blossomed and borne that much of a 
crop of fruit. You need not be alarmed about doing this. This is 
largely due to the climatic conditions this year, and the excessive 
amount of sunshine. Mr. Stanbury is located on the Columbia Slough 
where the trees grow very vigorously all summer on account of ex- 
cessive moisture. 

The further point that is necessary to make the tree bear as much 
as possible is the thinning of the fruit. A single bud naturally cannot 
produce two crops in succession. One bud produces this crop, and 
that is the end of that particular fruit bud, but where this fruit is 
borne this year it will start to grow right beside that fruit bud. If 
that grows as it does on some trees, particularly like the Spitzenberg, 
eight, ten or twelve inches long during the summer, that should be 
pruned also in the middle of August, that is, after the tree is in full 
bearing. That will tend the rest of the season to develop other fruit 
spurs down along this spur the following season. That is rather a 
difficult point to make clear, but the general practice is, as I said 
before, head back, cutting off the ends in the summer, and the thin- 
ning out of what we call suckers in the winter. It will tend to de- 
velop a lot of undesirable suckers. The limbs that are goine- to be 
taken out should be taken out in the winter, but after the tree is in 
bearing you can do that most any time. Thinning out should be done 
in the winter and the topping off of the simimer's growth should be 
done in the summer. The tree should have a system of good, strong 
limbs that are strong enough to carry themselves and all the fruit 
that they should bear without bending down, and these main limbs 
should be filled with fruit buds clear back down to the trunk of the 
tree, instead of allowing these limbs to grow up 10 and 20 feet and 
allowing the fruit to form on the end of the tree. The only way to 
keep them back is to follow a regular system of summer pruning. An 
apple that is formed along these limbs on a short fruit spur is in much 
better shape to be grown than if it is way out on the end of a limb. 
That is even more particularly true of the peach tree than of the 
apple. At the end of six or seven years the peach tree has got noth- 
ing to prune, whereas, if the orchardist had pruned that tree back as 
it should have been, very small, keeping the fruit buds down next to 
the trunk, it would have lived and borne just as long as the average 
apple tree. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How can one tell the difference between a piece grafted tree 
and one that is grafted at the root? 



96 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. That is something one will have to notice very carefully. In- 
sist upon the nurserj^man telling you. 

Q. What does the term ''heeled in" mean? 

A. That means covering the trees up to protect them during the 
winter; dig a trench about a foot deep on the best high, dry ground 
in the orchard, and set the trees in as they come in bundles from the 
nursery. Cut the bundles and spread them a little, then throw a thin 
layer of dirt over the roots with considerable force and pack it down 
w^ell to fill up all the space between the trees so that the water will 
run otf. If it is very cold weather, start covering them with straw. 
A tree carried over in that shape is in much better shape for planting. 

Q. How can one distinguish the fruit spurs from sprouts? 

A. The fruit bud is always larger and of lighter color. That will 
blossom and bear fruit. 

Q. Should one try to prune a leader up from the first year's 
stock ? 

A. No, not exactly, yet one must be left a little bit longer than 
the other in order to make sure that the tree will not split open and 
break down. I do not believe m cutting the inside of the tree out. 

Q. Would it be wise to prune a little high, say 30 inches? 

A. No, do not start the tree 30 inches from the ground, because 
this would simply move the limbs up higher. The tree should grow 
low enough so that one can do most of his thinning and picking from 
the ground. 

Q. Is it better to get trees from a nearby nursery than from a" 
distance ? 

A. Nearly always. If you can get good trees at home do not 
go away, and furthermore, you have the advantage of seeing them. 
It is a difficult matter to ship trees a couple of hundred miles or across 
the continent without doing them injury. 

Q. Should one prune for fall planting ? 

A. Yes, practically the same. If a tree has just been freshly dug 
out of the ground, the fine roots need not be pruned quite so much. 
The very fine feeding roots are nearly always broken off. 

Q. In case trees are left over how far apart should they be 
planted ? 

A. I would not plant them at all. A tree that has been left out 
of the ground during the season, then replanted in the nursery, and 
then replanted again is not going to be of much value. 

Q. What time in August should a tree be trimmed? 

A. About the middle. 

Q. Is there not a tendency for the new shoots to freeze this 
winter ? 



PRUNING ^ 97 

A. Yes, but that would not be of any particular consequence. 

Q. How many limbs should be left? 

A. All that the tree will carry. 

Q. You spoke of something like eight limbs f 

A. I mean leave eight buds so there will be that many to select 
from. 

Q. Is it not a fact that the limbs get farther apart as the tree 
gets older? 

A. They grow out, also increasing the diameter, so they are prob- 
ably about the same relative position as before. 

Q. Some orchardists in Hood River plant eight and ten inches 
deeper than others. What do you think of that? 

A. That depends upon climate and soil. Their soil is drier and 
requires deeper planting than in the Willamette Valley. 

Q. One man up there is digging holes 30 inches deep. 

A. If he puts the trees down 30 inches he is going decidedly to 
the extreme. About two inches deeper than the tree stood in the 
nursery row is about right. 

Q. Is it necessary to paint small wounds? 

A. No, not at all. Any cut less than an inch will heal over if 
cut properly. 

Q. What instrument should be usedt 

A. I use a sharp knife on these small roots. It makes a cleaner 
cut. For larger pruning I would suggest a pair of two-handed shears ; 
a pair that will make a sliding cut, but is hinged so that the knives 
slide together. These are very handy for cutting large limbs. 

Q. Can trees that have been neglected for two or three years 
be made successful? 

A. Yes, but in that case more vigorous pruning would have to be 
done in the winter than otherwise. Pruning wants to be done regu- 
larly twice a year. Do not wait longer and then do it all at once. 
Prune in February, then go through your orchard and head the trees 
back. 

Q. Is there any advantage in whitewashing the trunks of young 
trees? 

A. No, unless there is a very hot sun. Sometimes they may be 
shaded with the whitewash. By adding a little arsenate of lead to 
the whitewash the apple tree borer may be prevented. This worm 
girdles the tree in summer. 

Q. What are water sprouts? 

A. A growth that is forced out of the old wood where there is 
no visible bud. 

Q. Is it not possible to make a bearing limb out of a water sprout? 



98 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. Yes, if it is given time enough. If a limb is broken off a 
water sprout can be forced out and frequently there will be a new top 
on the tree. 

Q. Is an irrigated tree as good as one raised without irrigation? 

A. Yes, if it is not over-irrigated, but the tendency is to give 
it too much water. 

Q. How can one get up to a tree that grows so low to the ground? 

A. The tree should be grown up without spreading out or slop- 
ing to the ground. 

Q. In forcing the tree to bearing, does it not affect its life? 

A. Not necessarily, if properly taken care of. There is no rea- 
son why one should wait six or seven years for a tree to bear. A 
Northern Spy frequently will not bear for 14 years, but there is no 
reason why it should not the sixth or seventh year. The Jonathan 
will bear a few apples in three years. 

Q. Should the Spitzenberg be headed up more than the Newtown? 

A. Yes. 




A good example of careful apple packing- which has done much to advertise the fruit 

of the Pacific Northwest. 



P o 1 1 e n i z i n g 

Professor E. J. Krause, of the Oregon i^gricnltiiral College. 

I AM sure that the question of pollination of our orchard fruits 
will be of immense interest to you, both from the practical stand- 
point and from the standpoint of the experimental work which 
is being carried on at Corvallis. Every orchardist, or every man who 
expects to become one, should know exactly what he is going to do 
about the matter of pollination. The reason why he should is this: 
Some varieties are known as the self-sterile and others as self-fer- 
tilized. 

Before I come to that I desire to take up some other reasons why 
fruit trees do not set fruit other than through pollination. We would 
like to solve, if possible, the whole reason of pollination. If that were 
possible, we would easily remedy it. That is why so many questions 
arise from so many places throughout the states. "What is the matter 
with my trees? The fruit is all falling off." Go and investigate, and 
nine times out of ten it can be told very quickly what the matter is. 
One of the points, then, which I wish to make other than a matter 
of pollination in this : A great deal of trouble is caused by freezing 
during the winter. There is a severe freeze and one may think that the 
trees are not injured, but if we cut open the buds we will think other- 
wise ; the flower buds will hardly ever stand late freezing. The poster- 
ior of the stamen of the flower is injured in that case. There will be a 
great many blossoms on your trees, but no fruit. Somehow it cannot 
set fruit. Another point that I might mention is this. Naturally some 
varieties will shed their fruit. It is not a matter of pollination in 
that case. The Spitzenberg is one such variety. I suppose many of 
you know that the Spitzenberg will thin itself down to one or two 
in a cluster? The Cornice pear will do the same, that is, thin itself 
down to one pear. Many who have orchards of Comice pears do 
not think it necessary to go over their trees to thin them down, and 
frequently if two do stick they will mature all right, but frequently 
also the fruit will drop from the cluster. That is to say, you have eight 
or ten fruit sprigs on a fruit branch. Usually it will thin itself down 
to what you wish. 

Another point in that line is the care of your orchard. If your 
orchard is in very poor fertility — very poor cultivation — your fruit 



POLLENIZING 101 

will have a tendency to fall. Pollination -will have nothing to do with 
it in that case. The same is true if your orchard is in intense culti- 
vation. That is to say, if your trees are growing too fast — are form- 
ing too much wood growth. I am sure you have all noticed young trees 
laden down Avitli bloom set no fruit; instead of maturing fruit, it 
drops all its blossoms, and you have nothing but the wood growth. 
As the tree grows older the wood becomes less. 

Another point is when your tree is disease infected. If your tree 
has anthracnose, or any of the other diseases, there will be a ten- 
dency toward falling off of bloom. Naturally, a tree in an unhealthy 
condition will not set as much fruit as otherwise. Pollination has 
nothing to do in that case. 

Now I will come to pollination proper. By the term of self- 
sterile is meant when a variety is planted in large blocks by themselves 
they are incapable of setting fruit. By self-fertile we mean capable of 
setting fruit without the intervention of any other variety. Probably 
some of you would like to know what we mean by pollination. "We 
mean simply the transfer of the pollen, or the male element, to the 
stamen, or the female element of the plant. That is true pollination. 
You can pollinate until your hair is gray; if your pollination does not 
occur, you will not have any fruit set. 

Some of the agencies which affect pollination are these : First 
of all, insects. This is the primary factor in all of our orchard fruits. 
Then the other factor is the wind. Certain trees, such as the walnut, 
depend almost entirely on wind for pollination. All those trees that 
have a very light, dusty pollen depend on the wind. All trees which 
have sticky pollen depend on insects, such as the apple, pear, peach 
and plum trees. 

In order to be sure of pollination, I would advise keeping some 
bees in the orchard. If your neighbor does it for you, so much the 
better. As probably some of you know, bees do not generally work 
closely at home, so they will be apt to work in your trees as well as 
your neighbor's. You must depend upon insects. Pear blight is 
carried by insects. The sweet, honey-like liquid, which is simply alive 
with the bacteria of pear blight, is sought by insects, and right there 
they spread the disease. The disease runs down the blossom into the 
branch; down the branch into the trunk, and the tree is gone. It 
sounds quite simple, but when ycu lose an orchard tree it is a serious 
matter. You have to depend on domestic bees. You cannot depend on 
the wild bees. An brchard that is kept in a good state of cultivation 
should be supplied with a hive of bees. 

When we come to consider that we need a pollenizer, the point is 



102 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

what it shall be. Many think it is a good thing to have one variety 
of trees and that they get better fruit. The question is, should I plant 
a mixed variet,y? By no means. It is not necessary. If you have two 
varieties, one being pollinated bj' the other, that is what Ave are work- 
ing for, to tind varieties that have a mutual affinity, as we call it. That 
is to say, we have Newtowns and Spitzenbergs. The Xewtown Avill 
pollenize the Spitzenberg. 

Before I go any further I had probably better take up some of the 
effects of pollination. The first one of them is this : If a variety is 
self-sterile, it becomes fertile, that is to say, it will set fruit with the 
other pollenates, and the next point is that it is stated in some cases 
the fruit of the cross pollinated apples is larger. Another point is 
this : It is stated that it affects the color of one variety. For the last 
two years I have seen no evidence whatever that would support that 
statement. It is stated on good authority that such does occur. Some 
of the Western authorities state that if a Spitzenberg is pollinated by 
the Newtowm it will be of a poor color. I cannot support that state- 
ment. The Spitzenberg colors just as well with the Newtowns as it 
does with the Arkansas Blacks. The NcAvtown and the Spitzenberg 
are the same color. 

In size there is no increase or decrease. I think there has been too 
little done on this in an experimental way — mostly chance observation. 
When you get a man who is an observer, rather than an experimenter, 
he will attribute it to some cause Avhich has absolutely nothing to di» 
Avith it, but if a man is an experimenter, he Avill try to discover the 
cause. Of the commercial varieties groAA-n in Oregon, as far as I knoAV. 
for the last two years, Ave have had no evidence to support such a state- 
ment that the color of the variety is affected or has been affected in 
any Avay — absolutely none. 

Another statement is that an effect of pollination is that one 
gets more seeds in the apple. Of course, that has nothing to do Avith 
it. It is only of interest in an experimental Avay. There is this to be 
taken into consideration: Usually the greater numl^er of seeds the 
fruit contains, the larger Avill be the fruit. That is a point Avorthy of 
note. The statement is also made that size decreases by pollination. 
In the case of Bosc pears Avhen the Bosc Avas pollinated Avith Bartlett 
they Avere big pears; Avhen pollinated Avith Comice they Avere of medium 
size, and with Winter Nellis, they Avere of small size. On the other hand, 
Avhen Comice Avas pollinated Avith AVinter Nellis it gave us the largest 
pears, so Ave have got to determine for every variety Avhat pollination 
Avill do. You cannot predict Avhat is going to happen. You have got 
to experiment — not one year, but tAvo or three, and the result that you 



POLLEXIZING 



10' 



may attain one year may be contradicted the next. You cannot say, 
''Well, that is going to come out so and so." It does not work that way. 

We have found that certain of our varieties are better adapted 
for good pollenizers. First of all we should be sure that the varieties 
Avill blossom at the same time, because if one blossoms one week and 
the other comes into bloom the next, there is no chance for cross polli- 
nation. The next point is that they should both be commercial varie- 
ties. No use planting those that are of no commercial value. The next 
point is that they shall be of mutual affinity ; that the one shall be 
able to fertilize the other — for instance, the Spitzenberg and New- 
town should be reciprocal. The next point is this — that they should 
come into bloom about the same day. As you know, some varieties 
come into bloom nuu'h earlier than others. That can be obviated. For 
instance, a dwarf will come into bearing in about four years and will 
blossom in the third year. As you all know, dwarf trees are being used 
for fillers, so you can use dwarf trees which come into full bloom in 
three years, and in that way not lose your crop, and when you have 
no further use for them for that purpose, take them out. 

Some have reconnnended that you plant about 10 rows of one and 
then 10 of the other. That is a little too far apart. I believe I would 




An apple orcharJ in full liloom — Yakima Valley, Washington. 



104 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

prefer to plant four of one and four of the other. You see that makes 
it quite convenient in harvesting. I would recommend four rows of 
Newtowns and then four rows of Spitzenbergs, then four rows of New- 
towns and four rows of Spitzenbergs, for they will cross any two 
rows and that is all the distance they have to go. If you were to use 
ten and one, as is sometimes recommended, the one row has too much 
to do for the rows on each side. If the row you are using as pol- 
lenizer is deficient in pollen, it will hardly do. That is certainly all 
wrong and the bees cannot do their work. They would have a great 
deal further to go with five rows on one side and five on the other. 
You would not be as likely to get as good results as if planted two 
rows apart as described. Then there is the matter of harvesting. You 
have four rows here and four rows there, so it makes it well worth 
Avhile to consider. You can well afford to go down through your or- 
chard covering four rows and both being of a commercial variety 
will make harvesting easier. I have in mind one of the very finest pear 
orchards in the State, and probably the United States, which is set that 
way. First it has four rows of Bartletts, then four rows of 
Anjous, and so on. Then comes the Winter Nellis and the Comice in 
the same way. They found it very convenient in harvesting; no more 
trouble than if they had all been of one kind. In case you have an old 
orchard I would recommend that instead of going through and graft- 
ing a little dab here and there, you go over a whole row of trees at a 
time. 

As a pollenizer the Winter Pearmain is par excellence. At the 
present time that variety is not used or is not grown much. I under- 
stand, however, that that variety is going to be grown much more 
than it is at this time. For two years it has given us the best of re- 
sults by far of any we have ever used. 

For the pears — For the Bosc I will recommend Comice; for the 
Comice, Winter Nellis, and for the Bartlett, Anjou. Winter Nellis and 
the Comice work magnificently together. We have worked for several 
years along this line, and we are getting results down now where there 
is no longer a lot of hot-air. We know that we can recommend and 
recommend definitely what shall be planted of certain varieties. We 
have experimented for several years and will have to experiment for 
several more years. 

This must be borne in mind: That as a variety is self-sterile in 
one locality it may be absolutely self-fertile in another. Some pears 
that are self-sterile in the East are perfectly self-fertile out here. There 
is no way of accounting for that. As I said before, they are affected 
by food supply and the state of cultivation of your orchard. In our 
work we are endeavoring to find out the best pollenizers for our com- 



POLLEN IZING 105 

mercial varieties that we can recommend to those that are best suited 
to various districts. We may find that a variety for the Willamette 
Valley, for instance, is not adapted to Hood Kiver, and that a variety 
which is adapted to Hood River is not adapted to the Willamette 
Valley. All these points have to be taken into consideration. 

The matter of pollination really means dollars in a man's pocket 
when he stops to consider it seriously. The work in the United States 
has been going on since 1894, and it is far from solved yet as to why a 
variety which is self-fertile here is not so in another locality. This is 
one of the points that we are trying to find out. 

There is a bulletin published by the college (No. 104), written by 
Professor Lewis and Mr. Vincent, on the pollination of the apple. One 
of the main points of value of this bulletin is that it gives you the time 
of bloom of the different varieties and which can be used to pollinate. 
Each bulletin is printed with a plain diagram which you can fully 
understand. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Would you put a pollenizer in between the Spitzenberg and 
Newtown ? 

A. I see no necessity for it. The Spitzenberg and Newtowns will 
fertilize each other perfectly. 

Q. Didn't one of your bulletins about a year ago, when they made 
the survey in Hood River, recommend the Arkansas Black or the 
Ortley? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Have you had cause to change your opinion since? 

A. Not on that point, but it is not absolutely necessary. 

Q. Would you recommend leaving out the Ortley or Arkansas 
Black entirely? 

A. Yes, if you wish to. The Newtown and Spitzenberg will pol- 
lenize each other, or you can put the Arkansas Black and Ortley in if 
you want to, but there is no advantage in doing it. 

Q. If you planted the Ortley or Arkansas Black, how would you 
plant them? 

A. I would plant them in rows of four- — four rows of Newtowns. 
four rows of Spitzenbergs, and then four rows of Arkansas Black, and 
four rows of Ortleys. 

Q. Would j'-ou plant the Ortley a long way from the Spitzenberg? 

A. Yes. 

Q. "Better Fruit" about two years ago had an article advocating 
the pollination of Newtown and Spitzenberg. 



106 APPLE GROWIjS'G IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. That is all right, but it was not necessary. 

Q. What variety can be used in connection with the Northern 

Spy? 

A. You can use any of the varieties I have named — Newtown, 
Arkansas Black, Bed Cheek Pippin. 

Q. What do you use with the Ortley ? 

A. Use Newtowns and Spitzenbergs with the Ortley. They give 
very good results. 

Q. What do you use with the Winter Banana? 

A. Newtowns or Spitzenbergs. Either one will do. 

Q. Is there much difference in the keeping quality of the Bartlett 

pear in different sections? 

A. Yes, ciuite a bit. 

Q. Do the Newtown and Spitzenberg fertilize each other? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Does that hold good in all our countries? 

A. Yes, so far as we know. 

Q. HoAV does the Jonathan work in connection with the Newtown? 

A. All right. 

Q. How do the Jonathan and Winesap work together? 

A. Pretty Avell, so far as the AVinesap is concerned, but I am 
thinking the Jonathan would get the short end of it. The Jonathan sets 
fruit pretty well without pollenizer. 

Q. Is the Ortley a heavy pollen producer? 

A. The White Winter Pearmain is the greatest I know of. 

Q. How is that as an apple ? 

A. Very good. It is a good winter apple. It is universally suc- 
cessful, and is perfectly self-fertile. The quality is excellent to my 
notion. 

Q. Does the Rome Beauty pollenize with the Newtown? 

A. Yes. 

Q. How about Grimes Golden? 

A. Newtown is the best. 




The diagonal apple pack as made in the Hood River Valley. 



The Best in Apple Culture 

H. M. Williamson, Secretary of the Oregon State Board of Horti- 
culture. 

IN the past few years I have been asked many times to talk upon 
the subject of the probability or improbability of averprodue- 
tion of apples. I have come to the conclusion that the time spent 
in discussing this subject is practically wasted. Unless production is 
limited by natural or artificial monopoly, occasional periods of over- 
production are inevitable in all industries. Overproduction is an inci- 
dent of progress. It is a factor in bringing about the survival of the 
fittest and of raising the standard of those who remain producers by 
eliminating those whose methods are poorest. Those who suffer least 
in times of overproduction and make the largest profits at other times 
are those who use the best methods throughout in production and mar- 
keting. This is so plain that every one admits its truth, but a study of 
the results obtained in many branches of agriculture and horticulture 
will convince the student that, while the truth of the statement may 
be generally accepted, there are few who are sufficiently convinced of 
its truth to show their acceptance by their deeds. Few appear to know 
how much difference there is between the returns obtained by those 
who use the best methods and those who use the poorest methods, or 
even those of average methods. 

Neither the climatic nor the soil conditions in Maine are especially 
favorable for the production of a large yield of sweet corn of high 
quality. This fact and the resultant, and because of demand for sw^eet 
corn for canning, the farmers there have given so much attention to the 
best methods of producing it that they have raised the average yield of 
sweet corn in Maine far above that of the country at large, and exceed 
the yield obtained in the great corn State of Illinois by nearly 50 per 
cent. If the methods applied to the production of sweet corn in Illinois 
were equal to those used in Maine, the yield obtained in Illinois would 
much exceed the yield obtained in Maine. 

The climatic conditions in Massachusetts are. distinctly less favor- 
able for the production of tomatoes than are those of a majority of the 
other States of the Union, and yet the census of 1900 showed that the 
average yield of tomatoes in ]Massachusetts is 345 bushels per acre, 
while the average yield for the United States as a whole is 165 bushels. 
This great difference in favor of IMassachusetts is wholly due to the 
better methods of the growers of that State. 



THE BEST IN APPLE CULTURE 109 

In no other important branch of agricultural industry is there so 
great a difiPerence in the results obtained by men of the best methods 
and those obtained by men of the poorest methods as in the production 
of apples. The County of Orleans, New York, leads all other counties 
in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains in the volume and 
value of apples produced. The industry of raising apples in that county 
is highly prosperous. It is not probable that there is any other county 
of large production of apples east of the Rocky Mountains in which 
the methods of growers average as high as in Orleans County. The 
Cornell University Experiment Station a few years ago completed an 
investigation of the apple industry of Orleans County, covering a 
period of five years. For that time it was found that there were in 
the county 18 orchards, in no one of which the sales for the five years 
averaged less than $300 per acre per year. On the other hand, there 
were 184 orchards, from which the average annual sales fell under 
$100 per acre, and 72 orchards from which the average annual sales 
were less than $50 per acre. If this investigation had covered the past 
three years, the difference would have been even more pronounced, as 
the best orchardists have been obtaining much higher prices in the past 
three years than in the period covered by the investigation. 

We have no available statistics of this kind for Oregon, but, if we 
had, it would be found that the difference in the average returns ob- 
tained by the 50 best apple growers of this State and the 500 worst 
would be far greater than that shov»'n by the Orleans County investi- 
gation. The difference in the returns obtained by the most successful 
and the least successful growers, both in Orleans County, New York, 
and in Oregon is mainly due to the human factor in production. It 
starts with the knowledge and judgment shown in the selection of a 
site as being more or less adapted to apple culture in soil, aspect, 
proximity to shipping point, character of community, the choice of va- 
rieties to plant, the methods of preparing the land, planting and caring 
for the orchard, and the marketing of the fruit. 

There are some varieties of apples of high quality which cannot be 
produced at as low cost as apples of some other variety, but it is a rule 
w4th few exceptions that the growers who obtain the largest gross re- 
turns per acre of any given variety produce marketable fruit at the 
lowest cost per box. When, therefore, the grower who is selling only 
$50 worth of apples per acre is producing his fruit at a loss, the man 
who is selling $100 worth per acre may be making a moderate profit, 
and the grower who is selling $300 worth per acre, a large profit. In 
the long run the man who obtains average returns of only $100 per 
acre will not be able to hold out in competition with the grower who 
is obtaining $300 or more per acre for his crop of apples. Those w^ho 



110 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

applj^ the best methods to every phase of the business of producing and 
marketing apples will, in the long run, gain rather than lose as a result 
of periods of over-produetion. 

We have in Oregon unusually favorable climate conditions for 
apple-raising, and a great area of rich land favorably situated for apple 
orchards. Probably no other State is as fortunate in these particulars. 
These favorable natural conditions are greatly in our favor if we do 
not lean upon them for success. Our apples have also accjuired an un- 
surpassed reputation in many market. This is also to our advantage, if 
we do not rely upon this reputation for success. Our natural advantages 
do not assure success in producing the best and most profitable apples 
— they merely give us a certain percentage of advantage over competi- 
tors in achieving the feat. There is great danger of using too large a 
figure in estimating this percentage. In the proportion that a grower 
relies for success on advantage of soil and climate, just in that propor- 
tion he decreases the probability of achieving success. Every observ- 
ing fruit grower who travels abroad is convinced that one of the great- 
est dangers which threatens the future of Oregon's apple industry is 
that too many persons will engage in it who expect Nature to do more 
than its share. At the last meeting of the Oregon State Horticultural 
Society, Hon. H. B. Miller stated certain truths on this subject in a 
most forcil)le manner. Mr. Miller has been an extensive and suc- 
cessful apple grower in Oregon; has been president of the Oregon Agri- 
cultural College, and of the State Board of Horticulture; Consul at 
different points in China; Consul-General in Japan, and Consul at Bel- 
fast, Ireland. In all of these places and on the Continent of Europe 
he has investigated fruits and fruit growing. 

In his address before the State Horticultural Society he said that 
from his personal observance he could say that it is possible to grow 
as good apples in China and Japan, and in a number of the countries 
of Europe as in Oregon. He also called attention to what Belfast. 
Ireland, has accomplished in certain lines of manufacturing without 
natural advantages. With but a limited home supply of tow and with- 
out water power or a home supply of fuel, it has made itself the leading 
linen-manufacturing city of the world; without natural power and 
without a home supply of either coal, iron or lumber, it has developed 
the greatest shipbuilding plant in the world; without a home supply of 
tobacco it has built up the largest tobacco-manufacturing establish- 
ment of the world. 

• Mr. Miller believes in Oregon as an apple-growing State. He be- 
lieves that if we do our part Portland will become the greatest apple- 
shipping point in the world. He is engaging in orchard planting on a 
large scale. He sees as one who studies the subject sees, that while 



THE BEST IN APPLE CULTURE 111 

we are doing much in Oregon to promote the planting of apple orchards, 
we are doing little to insure the practice of the best methods by those 
who plant or buy these orchards, and still less to provide an adequate 
method of marketing the fruit. 

Every man and woman who engages in the apple-growing in- 
dustry in Oregon must realize that the sure road to success for the 
apple grower is to surpass those of all competitors in every particular 
from the selection of the land to the final distribution of the fruit. 
Oregon apples now enjoy a higher reputation than those of any other 
State of the Union. We know" this because all over the United States 
growers are claiming that they can raise just as good apples as Oregon 
if they use Oregon methods. Who has made this valuable reputation 
for Oregon apples? How many communities really deserve any ma- 
terial credit for the part they have taken in achieving it! Actually 
two, and, to so large an extent only one, that it makes little diiference 
where you go in Oregon you will be told that the particular district 
you are visiting could raise just as good apples as Hood River. What 
show has climate and soil in leading the Hood River orchardists to 
adopt the methods without which no place can produce such perfect 
apples as are sent to market from that place ? How much had climate 
and soil to do with their most effective methods of calling the atten- 
tion of the public to the superiority of their fruit? What part, did 
natural advantages play in the development of their unrivaled system 
of honest and skillful packing, or in the co-operation of the growers in 
the State? Even if we concede that the Hood River Valley has some 
slight climatic advantages for apple production, it was not these ad- 
vantages wdiich made it what it is in the apple-producing industry, but 
the superior method used by its growers. In a large measure the 
original credit for the high standards set up at Hood River are due to 
a few men and notably to one man who from the earliest settlement of 
the valley down to the j^resent time has never missed an opportunity 
to preach the doctrine of the best. 

It has been said that it is safer to shake a red rag in the face of an 
angry bull than to suggest to E. L. Smith the advisal)ility of planting 
Ben Davis apples in the Hood River Valley. If we are to surpass all 
competitors in our methods of producing and marketing apples, we 
must not underrate our competitors, and we must know what they are 
doing. It will never be safe to rest upon laurels alreadj^ won. The 
world moves and progress in science and art is more rapid than form- 
erly, and will be more rapid in the future than it is now. There are 
those who are learning from us and if we keep in the lead we must be 
ready and eager to learn from others. It is no safer to rest upon the 



112 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

belief that we are producing the best apples growii than it is to depend 
upon superior climatic and soil conditions for success. 

The wise man of old told an everlasting truth when he said that 
pride goeth before destruction, and if we boast too much of the super- 
iority of our apples we will become self-satisfied and while indulging 
in this luxury some of our competitors wull leave us in the rear. If we 
are to surpass all competitors it is necessary that our methods not only 
produce the best fruit, but do this at the lowest cost at which such 
fruit can be produced. We must also fully understand that the pro- 
duction of the best fruit at the lowest practical cost will be only half 
the battle. The methods of caring for orchards and packing apples in 
our best districts in Oregon are much further advanced than our meth- 
ods of marketing apples. "We have only as yet taken the first step on 
the ladder in our efforts to reach a solution of the marketing problem. 
There are about 10,000 cities and towns in the United States in which 
newspapers are published. In practically all of these there are merchants 
who do huj or who could be induced to buy apples in carload lots. It 
costs no more to ship a carload of apples from the station in Oregon 
where the apples are packed to one of the smaller of these towns than 
it does to ship it to one of the great jobbing centers. Our Fruit Unions, 
as yet, ship mainly to the larger wholesale centers. So far as the fruit 
is intended for consumption in those centers the present method is 
adequate. "When, how^ever, a carload of apples is shipped to a jobber 
in some of the Eastern cities, unloaded there, placed in storage, loaded 
in a car again and shipped to a retailer in some town or city 100 
miles from that center, the cost of getting the fruit from the Eastern 
packer to the Eastern retailer has been doubled. At the present time 
it even happens frequently that the car goes from the center to a 
wholesale fruit dealer in some smaller city, and from that smaller city 
to a retailer in some other city or town. We cannot claim that we are 
using the best methods of marketing our apples until we have over- 
come the system now in vogue and which, while it lasts, will continue 
to make good apples so costly that the masses can only afford; to use 
them in limited quantities. 

We may rest assured that the problem of overcoming this costly 
system of distribution will be solved and that the State whose growers 
solve it most satisfactorily will gain a great advantage. We must 
also follow the example of manufacturers in exploiting our apples and 
in inducing merchants to buy them. The fact that the real secret of 
success in the apple business is found in superiority of methods from 
start to finish should encourage rather than discourage any right- 
minded person who is thinking of engaging in the business of raising 
apples. Some person always does a certain thing better than any other 



THE BEST IJN^ APPLE CULTURE 113 

person ; some community does it better than any other communit}^ 
The strife to excel in the business of growing and marketing apples is 
an honorable one. If carried on in a whole-hearted way it benefits 
all who engage in it and results in good to others. All progress in 
the world comes from doing a thing better than it has been done before. 
The ambition to surpass all that has been done before has been the 
moving cause of nearly all of the progress which the world has made. 
The joy of competitive struggle is a symptom of virility. The absence 
of ambition to excel means that decadence has begun. There can be 
no more honorable strife than one which will result in the production 
of the best apples at the lowest possible cost and the finding of a 
method of marketing the apples which w^ill reduce to a minimum the 
cost of transferring those apples from the producer to the consumer. 
It is a strife which will result in good and the benefits will be divided 
between producer and consumer. We have the advantages of favor- 
able climate and a great area of the best of apple land which will 
enable us to make Oregon the leading apple-growing State of the Union 
if we do our part which is to do our best to surpass all competitors in 
our methods. I believe we will win. My faith is founded upon the 
character of those of our own people who are becoming interested in 
apple culture and of those who are coming to Oregon from other States 
to engage in the raising of apples — men and women of much more than 
average intelligence and education. It is significant that at the two 
leading apple shipping centers of Oregon, Hood River and Medford, 
there are strong university clubs. The ranks of our apple growers are 
being reinforced by graduates of almost every agricultural college in 
the Union, and by the graduates of many other colleges and universi- 
ties. While we are getting more visionaries and incompetents than we 
w^ant, the evil results following the injection of this undesiral^le class 
will not be permanent, and when they have been eliminated and for- 
gotten then will be found remaining a body of apple growers who 
would make a success of any business. It is indeed f(n'tunate for the 
development of the apple growing industry in Oregon that it is at- 
tracting so many persons of trained intellects and broad minds — men 
and women who are not discouraged by obstacles which may be over- 
come and who realize that an occupation is usually worth while just 
in proportion to the ol)staeles which must be overcome. The work of 
finding the best possible solution of every problem which the apple 
grower has to meet will strengthen the mental and moral fiber of every 
person who does his share of the work. In accordance with the law of 
attraction communities of intelligent, progressive, apple raisers, ani- 
mated by the determination to excel, will draw to it more of the same 
kind. The more people of this kind we can induce to engage in the 



114 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

apple industry in Oregon, and the more communities of such people "vve 
can obtain the greater our chances will be of surpassing all rivals and 
the better it will be for all who engage in the apple indvistry in this 
State. Horticulture has always had a fascination for the best types of 
people. Communities made up of men and women who have the men- 
tal and moral qualities essential to success in the apple industry will 
raise the standard 'of agriculture, and bring about a much-needed in- 
crease of respect for those engaged in this occupation. The good 
effects of their coming will not die with them but will endure. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Did Mr. Miller mention the difference in the price of Austra- 
lian and Hood Eiver apples? 

A. I do not think he referred to Australian apples. They come 
into the market at a different time. 

Q. How about the Japanese apples? 

A. They do not produce any. He simply said that they can do it. 
The great bulk of all the apples offered for the markets in Europe are 
the veriest trash. All that is to keep us in mind what our competitors 
can do. Of course France produces some very fine fruit with very in- 
adequate methods. When the Panama Canal is finished it will open up 
one of the greatest markets for our American apples. It will enable 
us to lay them down there at reduced freight rates through the opening 
of the canal. 

Q. I noticed that Mr. Miller spoke very highly of the Grimes 
Golden apple. I would like to ask you to give me a general description 
of the Grimes Golden. 

A. The Grimes Golden is l)right golden and of very high quality. 
Pcmoletically it is below the Spitzenberg. It is not as good a keeper 
as the Yellow Newtown. Its best period would be just before the Yel- 
low Newtown. It is in its prime about the first of December until the 
middle of February or first of March. It is a rather small apple, but 
that is desirable for English markets. They do not want very large 
apples. In England the holidays are the best time of the year to sell 
fruit. A little later they get fresh fruits from Cape Colony and from 
other places that reduce the demand. The Grimes Golden is a very 
good bearer in the Willamette Valley and is remarkably free from 
scab. 

Q. Do they grow better on low level? 

A. I am not sure about that. The last Grimes Golden I had were 
grown at an elevation of 600 or 800 feet. 



THE BEST IX APPLE CULTURE 115 

Q. What four varieties would you consider the best for commer- 
cial api3les? 

A. I want to say that when we really apply the doctrine of best 
in fruit, we must not confine ourselves to apples in the fall. Do not 
begin with fall apples, with Gravensteins, because splendid Graven- 
steins can be grown. We must begin to supply our customers with 
Gravensteins and keep it right up as fast as the other varieties come 
on the market. A great deal depends upon the locality. We have so 
many high elevations and every elevation materially affects the pro- 
duction of apples. In the Willamette Valley the Northern Spy is tht^ 
leader. It cannot be beaten in quality in the Coast Range ^lountains. 
Near Scappoose they grow a magnificent Northern Spy. In the Cas- 
cade ^Mountains the color of the apples is not so high as those grown 
near Scappoose. I cannot believe that people will not buy a good apphi- 
when they find out that they can get a good one ; I do not believe they 
will buy a Ben Davis when they can get a Yello^v Newtown, and it 
comes into the market at a time when its only practical competitor is 
the Ben Davis. 

Q. How is the Baldwin ? 

A. The great trouble with the Baldwin at present is that is has 
a peculiar speck, a trouble which we have not yet been able to cope 
with. 

Q. Are Newtowns more profitable than Spitzenbergs? 

A. Yes. at least judging from what people tell me. Some of the 
heretics at Hood River say that the Ben Davis is the most profitable. 

Q. Are Newtowns and Spitzenbergs best on high elevation? 

A. The Spitzenberg is best on high elevation. In Hood River the 
Newtown just overlapped the Spitzenberg; the best district for the 
Newtowns was 1,100 feet, and from there on the Spitzenberg was best. 
That is not above the snow line, but pretty far up. 

Q. What about the Winter Banana ? 

A. It is not adapted to the Hood River or Willamette Valley 
conditions. Where there is no irrigation and dry air it gets sufficient 
firmness and thickness of the skin to make it possible to handle, but 
even at Hood River it is practically impossible to handle it carefully 
enough that brown spots Avill not be produceil on it, and its main ad- 
vantage is its beauty. If I am not mistaken, it originated in New Jer- 
sey. 

Q. Will the Newtown grow at an elevationn of 2.000 feet? 

A. I would be afraid it would not keep long. I have seen them 
grown at 1,800 feet and they were hard and green months afterAvard. 
A Spitzenberg would grow all right at that elevation. 

Q. Are there any advantages in growing dwarf apples? 



116 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. We have not had any demonstration of that here in Oregon. 
I believe this country is well adapted to dwarf apples. A man at 
Puget Sound has given a great deal of attention to this matter and he 
is of the opinion that this country is well adapted to dwarf apples 
and pears. 

Q. What about the Dufur Valley? 

A. It was stated at the meeting of the State Horticultural So- 
ciety that if they had gotten from Hood River a number of competent 
men to pack the best boxes out of their carload of apples they would 
have had a magnificent exhibit. As far as the quality of their apples 
is concerned, I have no doubt but the NewtoAvn is an apple that they 
should cultivate there. 

Q. What is the elevation? 

A. I hear it is a slope, probably from 1,200 to 1,800 feet. Being 
back from the Columbia River some distance, it is not as warm there 
as if they were closer to the Columbia. 

Q. Do the people want this central selling agency? 

A. It is a situation of something that has to be done, but we 
must first have a local organization. The idea prevailed fourteen years 
ago that it was an attempt to monopolize the fruit industry. That was 
erroneous. The real aim is to bring about a more even distribution 
of fruit. 

Q. What varieties are adapted to White Salmon? 

A. I am not very well acquainted with the White Salmon sec- 
tion, but it is so much like Hood River that it would be practically the 
same. Their leading varieties are Yellow Newtown, Spitzenberg and 
the Ortley. 

Q. How about the Rome Beauty? 

A. That is an apple which adapts itself to many different local- 
ities. It is one of the verj^ best apples in the higli elevations of Ore- 
gon, Washington and Idaho. 

Q. How about the Ortley ? 

A. The Ortley is an apple of very high quality. 

Q. The Gano ? 

A. That is a low-grade apple. They are used for l)aking, but in 
reality they are not a very good apple. The Wagener is a much better 
apple and it does very well in the Willamette Valley. 

Q. What variety is the best baking apple? 

A. SAveet apples are considered the best, but we do not have an 
opportunity to try them because people have gone out of the business 
of raising them. The baking apples in Portland are the Ben Davis. 
Gano and Arkansas Black. 



Apple Tree Anthracnose 

Prof. H. S. JaeksDii, Department of Plant Pathology. Oregon Agri- 
cultural College. 

RECENT magazine writer says that all Oregon and AVashington 
are apple mad. In looking over this audience I wonder if he 
wasn't about right, especially when it is possible on a Saturday 
night in a large city to get out an audience of this size to listen to 
lectures relating to apple culture. Perhaps Oregon is apple mad, but 
so long as our real estate agents and others have provided the asylum 
in the shape of an apple orchard, I do not think very much harm will 
come from it. It seems to me that it is rather unusual to find so 
many people interested in topics, many of which are as dry and techni- 
cal as the one on which I am to speak tonight. 

The apple tree anthracnose. as it is commonly called in this State 
and Washington, is a disease of the apple tree which is peculiar to the 
Pacific Northwest. It occurs in no other part of the United States as a 
serious disease. Its distribution is as follows : It extends from British 
Columbia to the Southern part of Oregon and possibly into California, 
although that is not definitely known. It occurs also in Idaho. How 
far East it is spread is not known. In Oregon it is, with the possible 
exception of the apple scab, the most serious disease with which apple 
growers have to deal. The disease is characterized by the appearance 
of dark colored, sunken cankers which are seen on the young growths. 
These are not found as commonly on the large branches as on the 
younger ones. 

Cankers are first to be observed in the fall or early winter as 
round, sunken, dark colored spots which slowly enlarge and elongate, 
making little visible growth during the dormant season, liut on the 
advent of spring and the consequent renewed activity in the life pro- 
cesses of the tree continue to grow rapidly. The cankers are mature 
in mid-summer and the active spread ceases. At this time the cankers 
are deeply sunken, dark in color with a limiting crack around the edge. 
Sometimes the cankers are so large that they girdle branches to such 
an extent that the entire tops may be killed. In rare cases yovmg 
trees are killed by cankers forming on the trunk. These are extreme 
examples. As we usually see it, the disease is found to produce few or 
many cankers on the younger branches of trees, occasionally girdling 
a twig or branch. 



APPLE TREE ANTIIRACNOSE 119 

The bark in mature cankers is found to be death to the sap wood. 
After the active spread the bark may cling in the cankers for one or 
more seasons, finally falling away, leaving an ugly scar which heals 
slowly. When a number of cankers occur on the branches the circula- 
tion of food in the trees is interfered with and the tree sutfers. 

Apple tree anthracnose is caused by a Parasitic Fungus. Perhaps 
this may need a little explanation. First let me define a parasite. A 
parasitic organism is one which lives at the expense of another organ- 
ism, drawing its nourishment from the "host" on which it is living. 
The mistletoe on the oak is a very good example and will serve to il- 
lustrate a parasite familiar to all and one so large as to be easily seen. 
The oak mistletoe is a parasite of a high order. It is a flowering plant 
parasitic on another flowering plant, the oak tree. I have said that 
the disease under discussion is caused by a parasitic fungus. A fungus 
is a plant of low order but nevertheless a plant as truly as is the apple 
tree. It differs from the latter essentially in that it lacks green color 
and is on this account unable to manufacture its own food and nuist 
take it directly or indirectly from some green plant. 

The common field mushroom is a fungus familiar to all. It lives 
on decaying vegetable matter, principally grass roots present in the 
soil of pastures or fields. Other familiar examples are the shelf fungi 
and mushrooms frequently seen growing on stumps or from wounds 
on living trunks of maple or other trees. Fungi in general exist in 
either one of two stages, one called the vegetative condition, which 
exists in the substratum or soil on which the fungus is growing, the 
other is called the reproductive stage or fruiting l)ody and bears the 
spores or disseminating organs of the fungus. The vegetative con- 
dition consists in most fungi of very delicate, colorless threads which 
are invisible to the naked eye except in mass. These threads branch 
and ramify in the soil or in the tissues of the plant on which the 
fungus is growing, absorbing nourishment for the fungus. The repro- 
ductive stage must be of various forms, depending on the kind of 
fungus. 

I have spoken of the field mushroom and the fungi common on the 
trunks of trees as illustrative of forms that are large and easily seen 
and familiar to all. In the fungus causing apple tree anthracnose, 
we have to deal with a form that we cannot see so readily, one so 
minute that it can only be studied satisfactorily by the use of the 
compound microscope. 

If a mature canker is examined in midsummer little elevations in 
the bark are easily observed. They are at first more or less conical 
in shape and are thickly scattered in the sunken area. They gradually 
enlarge and finally burst the outer layer of the bark and expose the 
cream-colored mass of fungous tissue. These are the aseervuli or 



120 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

fruiting bodies and bear the reproductive cells of the fungus, which 
are very minute, curved, colorless bodies, invisible to the naked eye 
except in mass and are produced in countless thousands in the pustules 
already described. They are held together during the dry weather 
by a sticky substance and are only liberated by the first fall rains, 
when they are broadly distributed by wind and rain, often being car- 
ried for long. distances. Moisture is necessary for the growth of these 
spores, which under proper conditions grow out into a slender tube 
which may penetrate the bark of the apple, ramifying in the tissues, 
killing them and producing the typical cankers. 

It is possible to isolate the organism causing this disease and grow 
it in pure culture. By taking a portion of such a culture and inserting 
it in the bark of a healthy tree we are able to produce the typical 
cankers of the disease. This proves beyond a doubt that the cankers 
are caused by the fungus. 

Infection takes place in the fall at any time after the first fall 
rains. The great majority of the infection doubtless occurs from about 
the middle of October to the first of December. After infection the 
fmigus spreads but slowly during the fall, remaining practically dor- 
mant during the winter and begins active growth again in the spring. 
The spread of the fungus in the tissues ceases early in the summer and 
when the canker is mature can only be found in the sunken bark. 

There is no evidence to show that the cankers grow in size after 
mid-summer. It is true that the mycelium or vegetative stage of the 
fungus remains alive in the bark of old cankers at least till the second 
autumn after the infection and spores like those produced in the 
cankers the first year after infection are found in limited quantity. 
This second year's growth, however, is as a saprophyte on the dead 
bark which still clings to such cankers. The pressure of another spore 
stage, the sexual spore which is common in the life history of the 
fungi of this nature, has not been proven to be present in the life his- 
tory of the apple tree anthracnose. 

Besides the cankers on the branches we sometimes find a disease 
of the fruit caused by the same fungus. On the fruit the spots first 
appear as small, brown, sunken areas which gradually enlarge, pro- 
ducing a rather soft rot. Finally pustules are produced which bear 
spores like those found in the cankers on the branches. Apple tree 
anthracnose, however, is not to be considered a serious trouble of the 
fruit. The spots occur only when the fruit has been left hanging on 
the trees for some time after the fall rains begin. In season when th;- 
rains begin early it will be more prevalent than when they occur later. 
In treating a fungous disease of this nature it is important that 
the tree be covered with some fungicidal substance that will prevent 



APPLE TREE ANTHRACNOSE 



121 



the germination of the spores and so keep the fungus from entering the 
tissues. After the fungus once enters the bark uo treatment can be 
applied that will kill the fungus and not kill the tissues as well. The 
treatment must be preventive and not curative. 

It has been found by investigators as well as by growers that 
the only satisfactory method of controlling the disease is by spraying 
before infection takes place, with the Bordeaux mixture or lime- 
sulphur. The spray should be applied as soon as the fruit is picked and 
before the fall rains begin, if possible. While it is desirable to get 
ahead of the fall rains, the application may be made any time that 
the weather permits. In serious cases two sprays should be given two 
to four weeks apart. Spraying after the middle of December is not 
recommended. The results of experimentation have shown that the 
Bordeaux mixture gives- slightly better results than lime-sulphur for 
this disease. 

In some seasons it frequently happens that large growers can 
not spray on account of unusual rainfall and the disease has an op- 
portunity to increase. If the disease is known to occur in an orchard, 
even in slight amounts, it will pay to spray every year that the weather 
permits. Should it happen that the disease becomes serious in a large 
bearing orchard, spraying once or twice with lime-sulphur as late as 
possible before the fruit is picked should be tried. This spray will 
not seriously discolor the fruit. 

Badly affected branches should be pruned out preceding the fall 
spraying. In young orchards where not too large it might be profit- 
able to scrape out the cankers in the winter or early in summer and 




Interior of a packing house in the Rogue River Valley. 



122 APPLE GROWI>'G IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

paint over with thick Bordeaux or disinfect with corrosive sublimate 
and paint over with lead paint. 

The treatment recommended will entirely control the disease and 
should be practiced every year as a matter of insurance, beginning 
when the orchard is young. If this is done no opportunity will be 
offered for the disease to become serious. 

It is important to note that Professor A. B. Cordley of the Oregon 
Agricultural College was the first to work out the true nature of the 
disease and to publish recommendations for its control. Nothing of 
essential importance has been added to our knowledge since he made 
his first report, about 1900. 

Note. — Workers in the Department of Plant Pathology at 0. A. C. 
wish to know the results which growers have in carrying out the rec- 
ommendations given. An urgent invitation is given to all interested 
to become correspondents with the Department of Plant Pathology 
'On questions relating to apple tree anthracnose, and to other diseases 
of plants. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How long does it take the ordinary- man to learn to perform 
the operation of cutting out the disease? 

A. Not long; first become familiar with the appearance of the 
disease and cut down to the healthy bark or to the wood. 

Q. Can an ordinary pruning knife be used? 

A. Any sharp knife will do. Cutting out would be practical only 
for young orchards where one can get to all parts of the tree. I have 
seen large trees with fully 200 cankers on the branches. It would 
plainly be impracticable to attempt to cut out the disease on old trees 
in large orchards. Spraying is easier. 

Q. Is the disease prevalent in all valleys? 

A. I cannot say definitely. It is much more prevalent in some 
than in others. All sections in this region are liable to infection. 

Q. Is this disease anything similar to the apple scab? 

A. The apple scab is a different fungous disease. It attacks the 
leaves and fruits of the apple tree and develops at a different time 
of the year than the anthracnose. 

Q. Does the same remedy apply? 

A. Spraying will prevent the apple scab, but, the life history of 
the fungus being different, the spray should be applied at another 
time. It is absolutely necessary to know the life history of the organ- 
ism causing any particular disease in order to know when to apply 
the spray. Get ahead of infection. The primary infection of the apple 

% 



APPLE TREE AXTIIKACNOSE 123 

scab occurs Avhen the blossom Inids are beginning to open. That is 
the time for first spraying. Spray again after the petals fall and make 
one or two more applications at intervals of 10 days or two weeks. 
Use the lime-snlphiir. 

Q. When an orchard is first set out what is the first symptom? 

A, The cankers which I have described. 

Q. How soon do they occur in young orchards? 

A. They may appear on the trees the first year after setting 
out. 

Q. What is the possibility of their attacking old trees? 

A. Very good. Whenever you see an old orchard in an infected 
region you may be pretty sure that there is some anthracnose unless 
it has been given proper treatment. 

Q. Is there much danger of spreading the disease through the 
distribution of nursery stock? 

A. I know of no case where that has been at all serious, though 
it is possible. 

Q. From the nature of the disease would it be much less liable 
to spread in that way if one year trees were planted instead of two 
year ? 

A. One year old trees would not be as liable to have the disease 
as the older trees. You would not find cankers on one year trees 
unless thej' had become infected before being taken up. Trees are 
changed so frequently in the nursery that the disease does not have 
time to get started. This is prolia])ly the reason why we do not see 
them in the nursery. If an old orchard which is infected with anthrac- 
nose is in the vicinity of a nursery, infection may spread to nursery 
stock. Such an orchard should be cut down. 

Q. Does it infect pear trees? 

A. A similar canker is found on pear trees Avhich may be due to 
anthracnose, but if so the life history is not carried out. As far as I 
know no spores have ever been found in cankers on the pear. 

Q. Is the disease liable to attack an old tree for the first time? 

A. It may attack a tree at any time. Cankers are more abundant 
on the young growths, that is. on branches under tAvo or three inches 
in diameter. 

Q. How do you explain the development of the disease in the 
apple you hold? (The speaker has a diseased apple in his hand.) 

A. I broke the tissue of the apple and introduced a portion of a 
pure culture and kept in a moist place. This was inoculated' in about 
the second week in November. It first developed a small brown 
sunken area which gradually spread, forming a large spot. The 



124 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

mycelium or vegetation stage of the fungus is all through the deca^^ed 
area. Spores are produced iu the pustules on .the surface. 

Q. Do spores ever attack the trunk of the tree regardless of the 
age? 

A. The trunk may be infected and cankers produced, but if the 
tree is of any age the fungus cannot groAV through the bark so the 
canker is not typical. That depends on the condition of the bark. 

Q. Is the disease more prevalent west of the Cascades? 

A. Yes, in Oregon. 

Q. Does the growth demand more circulation or retard it? 

A. It retards the passage of food to the lower branches of the 
tree. 

Q. Does it thrive in wet or dry season? 

A. In the fall during frequent rains there is more infection. It 
must have moisture and rain to germinate the spores and spread the 
disease. The spores are slowly developed in the cankers in dry 
weather. 

Q. Is the disease found where there is snow? 

A. The disease is limited to the Pacific Coast. It extends up into 
British Columbia where the winters are severe. 

Q. In the old trees where the anthraenose has gotten well started 
is it possible to reach it and kill it by spraying without removing the 
outer bark? 

A. The cankers are annual. They develop in the spring and 
into the next summer, then cease the active growth. You must get 
ahead of the infection. Infection takes place every year, so by spray- 
ing this fall you prevent the cankers next summer. 

Q. In what strength do you use the spray? 

A. In using Bordeaux mixture you may use 5-5-50, or the 5-6-50. 
This is: 5 lbs. copper sulphate (Blue Stone), 6 lbs. stone lime, 50 gals, 
water. In preparing the lime-sulphur the commercial mixture is di- 
luted 1 to 15. If used on foliage a weaker solution, about 1 to 30, 
is recommended. These are the proper dilutions when the stock solu- 
tion is about 300 Baume. 

Q. Does the disease occur on any wild plant? 

A. Some years ago Prof. Pierce of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture spent some time in Oregon and Washington studying this 
disease, but he made no official report. In a letter to the late Mr. 
Wallace, of Salem, he stated that he found what he believes to be the 
native host. He has never given us any published information. 



Injurious Orchard Insects 

Professor Hailey F. AVilson. of the Oregon Agrienltnral College. 

XT GIVES me great pleasure to be with you this evening. Taking- 
\i]) the orchard pests, I am going to deal principally with those 
of the apple. These insects which attack the apple ordinarily 
attack the pear also, so that we have a list of the principal ones on the 
pear as well as on the apple. 

I will first mention the codling moth, an old and familiar friend 
with all people who have eaten apples, even though they have not 
tried to raise them. The worm is found in the apple ; later it pro- 
duces the codling moth. In taking up the subject of injurious insects, 
I would suggest the advantage of knowing all stages; be able to tell 
not only the worm and moth, but know the egg and pupa, and trj^ to 
become acquainted with the life history of the various stages. Ordi- 
narily, each insect passes through four different stages. Some only 
pass through three. In the case of the codling moth the egg is laid 
by the adult moth on the leaves or fruit, principally upon the leaves 
by the first generation of moths which are present in the spring. 
From these eggs hatch little larvae or worms which find their way 
onto the apples, and, eating through the skin, work toward the cen- 
ter, feeding and finally crawl from the fruit and, seeking a hiding 
place, pupate, lose all their appendages and do not look at all like 
Avorms. After some time there comes forth from this pupal case a 
little grayish-brown moth known as the codling moth. This is the 
adult insect. 

You are, perhaps, more interested in the remedies for those insects 
than in the life history, so that I will not spend more time here, but 
will give the remedies. In the case of the codling moth, as perhaps 
you all know, we use the arsenate of lead. I will say that in times past 
it has been the rule to have from one to 15 remedies for most insects. 
Later investigations have shown that there are probably three different 
control measures which will do for most all insect pests and plant 
diseases. These are lime-sulphur, which is now known to be a fungi- 
cide as well as an insecticide ; the arsenate of lead, which acts as a 
poison, and what is known as Black Leaf Tobacco spray, which is used 
as a contact insecticide for summer spraying purposes. That is, it is 
sprayed on the insects and kills them from the outside, while the poison 



INJURIOUS ORCHARD INSECTS 127 

is taken inside and they die from the poisouing. In ease of the codling 
moth there are two generations each season. In order to control 
these insects it is necessary to spray some three or four times each 
year. In this State we do not recommend spraying less than three 
times. Professor Melander, in Washington. I believe, recommends that 
in some sections of that State one application is sufficient to control 
codling moth. In this State we give these three sprays as follows : 
The first one to be applied in the spring when the calyx of the apple 
blossom is still open, and after the petals have fallen; the second be- 
fore the calyx closes in order to get the poison into the little calyx 
cups. It has been shown that about 70 per cent of the larvae of the 
codling moth from the first generation eat into the calyx end of the 
apple. When the arsenate of lead is placed in there the larvae eat it 
and are poisoned. In the Eastern States it has been the rule to recom- 
mend spraying about two weeks later. In the Willamette Valley, at 
least, it has been shown that this spray is of little or no value for the 
codling moth, as the Avorms do not come out until about the 25th of 
June or the first of July. Of course you will have to be governed by 
conditions, of various seasons, and the locality in which you live. In 
the southern part of the State it might be safer to spray the 20th of 
June or thereabouts, while at Portland the spray should l)e applied 
the first of July. These are general directions only and can be sup- 
plemented by a general personal observation. The third spraying is 
recommended to be given about the 10th or 11th of August, that is, 
according to experiments carried on by Professor Cordley. That might 
not be true of all sections, and probably will vary from the 1st to the 
20th of the month. During ordinarj^ seasons we recommended a fourth 
spray to be given about the first of September. This not only helps 
control the codling moth, but also catches many other insects, the prin- 
cipal one being the bud moth. This insect feeds in the spring on the 
l)uds. The second generation, which is produced in the fall, feeds on 
tlie under side of the leaves of the apple, pear and other fruit trees. 
Now, if the leaves are thoroughly sprayed about the first of September, 
and the spray gotten onto the under side of the leaves it will catch 
most of the worms of the second generation. The bud moth spends 
the winter as a half-grown larva, similar to that of the codling moth. 
In the spring it comes out of its Avinter cocoon. Avorks and feeds upon 
the tender young buds. Instead of feeding on a single bud and de- 
stroying that Inid alone, it goes from one bud to another, feeding a 
little on each, so that a single Avtu-m Avill in one night destroy a large 
number of buds. Should there l)e from 15 to 20 or 25 of these Avorms 
present on one tree there Avould l)e a corresponding numlier of buds 
destroj'ed in a short time. It feeds only l)y night, remaining hidden 



128 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

in the day time in its nest of leaves. In making its nest, the worm 
draws the leaves together by a small thread of silk which is secreted 
bj'' the worm itself. Toward evening, when found feeding, if they are 
disturbed, they will crawl back into the nest and remain hidden for 
some time. The recommendation for spraying as ordinarily given 
is in the spring before the buds open or about the time they are 
turning green. At that time arsenate of lead, two pounds added 
to 50 gallons of winter strength lime-sulphur or 50 gallons of water, 
may be applied. Probably a better time to spray is in the fall, about 
the first of September, so that you have a codling moth spray and a 
bud moth spray at the same time. Should it be found that the fall 
spraying will control the moth the spring spray may be omitted. 

Only recently has lime-sulphur come into general use as a fungi- 
cide, and now it is generally used as a combined spray for insects and 
IDlant diseases. At the proper time for spraying for the codling 
moth, first application, apple scab can also be treated, and at the 
present time arsenate of lead and lime-sulphur are combined and 
applied at the same time. To each 50 gallons of lime-sulphur 30 
degrees Beaume diluted 1-10, a pound of arsenate of lead is added. 
If apple scab is not present, water may be used instead of lime-sulphur, 
as the latter is apt to burn the leaves. 

I will speak of the San Jose scale only in a very general way, 
because it causes very little damage where spraying is carried on 
thoroughh^ The scale, as we see it and know it, is a grayish, hard 
scale, under which lives the tender living insect, principally on or- 
chard trees, although the San Jose scale is found on some 100 or more 
plants. It spends the winter in an immature condition, developing 
in the spring into the full-grown insect. At that time the males come 
from beneath their scaly covering and fly about fertilizing the fe- 
male scales, which latter produce a large number of little yellowish 
young. This number has been estimated as high as nearly 500. It 
takes about 33 days for these to mature, so that we have in Oregon 
about five or six generations in a year. If, in each of those genera- 
tions a female scale produces about 500 of her own kind, you can 
see what an enormous number you would have at the end of the 
season. Ordinarily, spraying as applied for apple scab and anthrac- 
nose will keep the scale under control, and where spraying for this 
purpose is carried on I do not believe it will be necessary to apply 
a special spray for the scale. However, in case you should take hold 
of an old orchard which has not been sprayed for some time and the 
trees are covered with scale, other insects and moss, I would recom- 
mend a winter spray of lime-sulphur 30 degrees Beaume, diluted 
one to eight or ten. This can be applied at any time during the 



INJURIOUS ORCHARD INSECTS 12& 

dormant season of the tree. The next season j^on will, perhaps, not 
need to give the regular spraj^ for scale, depending upon the other 
lime-snlphur sprays to keep the scale in cheek. It has been the 
usual method to apply the scale spray in the middle of the winter 
while the trees are in a dormant condition. Upon investigation 
it has been found that in the spring or fall the scale is more easily 
killed. As it is much easier to control other insects by spraying' 
in the spring, it is recommended that the winter spray be applied 
as a special spray when the buds are turning green. The spray for 
anthracnose should be applied in the fall, just after the fruit has 
been picked. This will, perhaps, do more to kill the scale than any 
other spray. 

Professor Wilson was asked: ''Where does the codling moth 
spend the winter?" and replied: In a half-grown, or two-thirds state, 
in a cocoon which it spins in the fall. They are under the bark 
in crevices, on the ground, under clods or boards. If you want to 
make an experiment to find their cocoons, in the fall tie a cotton 
sack around your tree, and then go out during the winter some 
time and remove the band. You will perhaps find a number of co- 
coons. An orchard which is not well taken care of, on which the 
moss is thick, is an ideal place for the codling moth to live. 

Next, I wish to speak of some apple borers which attack young 
apple trees two or three years old. Perhaps some of you have no- 
ticed the trees as you go into an orchard in the fall. Upon examina- 
tion you will find that your trees are dead, and, upon close inspec- 
tion you will find at the base of your tree a worm with a broad, flat 
head working in a wide channel just under the bark. There are 
two kinds which ordinarily attack the apple. The one which is so 
injurious in Oregon is not so injurious in the Eastern States. The 
one which is injurious in the Eastern States is not at present found 
in Oregon. This borer passes through four stages, but the adult 
is a beetle and not a moth. It is a kind of a brown beetle, about half 
or three-fourths of an inch long. The eggs are laid in the summer 
on the bark. A little worm hatches out of the egg and bores into 
the bark next to the wood, and works around the tree, that is, it 
bores up and around, and then back down. As the worms grow, 
of course, the channel becomes wider, and sometimes you will find 
a channel at least half an inch across, which is very apt to cause 
the death of the tree. After the borer has once entered the tree 
there is no way to exterminate it except to dig it out. The best 
remedy is a preventive means. The best way is to tie the paper 
around the tree, that is, old newspaper or some of the commercial 
panels, as they are called. In using these j^ou should place some cot- 



130 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NOKTHWEST 

ton around the tree at the top of the panel to keep the borer from 
getting in under. At the time the paper or the panel is used, the dirt 
should be piled up and around the tree, so the adult cannot crawl in 
under. Wire screen has been recommended placed about the tree and 
tied at the top. If this is used, it should be so arranged about the trunk 
that the beetle cannot deposit eggs through the meshes of the screen. 
When the papers are tied to the trees the string should be rather loose, 
so that should the trees grow very much or expand during the summer 
it will not bind the trees, and the strands can be broken, otherwise you 
might injure the tree. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. When do they attack the tree worst? 

A. During the summer, but the injury does not appear until fall. 
At that time the larva has finished its work. It bores into the tree 
and remains there until spring, wdien it comes forth as the adult beetle. 
When the larva first starts the channel it is very small. Later in the 
summer it may extend around the tree. Toward fall the larva bore 
into the center of the tree and pupates. 

Q. In setting out trees the first year it has been my experience 
that before they got established the borers attack them worst. 

A. This seems to be the case. The borers attack the trees when 
they seem to be in a weak condition. When you set the tree out it 
has rather a setback, because it has been taken up and replanted, and 
it has a harder fight to make and so the borer has less trouble in mak- 
ing headway. 

Q. Is whitewash any protection against a borer? 

A. Yes, to some extent. To what extent I would not be able to 
say. Whitewash when ordinarily applied, no matter how thick, will 
crack, and the borer deposits the eggs through the cracks next to the 
bark, but the whitewash will be of considerable benefit, and when 
whitewash is used, some carbolic emulsion, such as crude oil or some- 
thing of the kind should be applied in whitewash, say half a gallon to 
a barrel of whitewash. The odor seems to keep them away to some 
extent. Ordinarily in orchards where weeds and grass are allowed 
to grow close to the trees, you will find mere borers, as this offers a 
hiding place for the beetles in the daytime and they deposit their eggs 
unmolested. Weeds should be kept down. 

Q. Is that beetle found very much in this state? 

A. Yes, that beetle (the flat-headed borer) has been known in 



INJURIOUS ORCHARD INSECTS 131 

the state since 1893 or 1894. As from time to time new orchards were 
set out — more young trees — more reports have come in. A number 
of people who attended the recent short course at the 0. A. C. spoke of 
damage caused by this species. 

Q. What sections are worst? 

A. I do not know that any one section is worse than another. 
The majority of reports have come from the Willamette Valley, 

Q. Do you have any reports of the round-headed borer? 

A. The round-headed species, as far as we know, do not exist in 
this state at the present time. The flat-headed borer is the one we are 
discussing now. 

Q. Have you found that these beetles work where ground is first 
cleared ? 

A. Well, I would not think so, except in cases where a young 
orchard adjoins an old orchard. I would not recommend raising 
nursery stock near an infested orchard because it affords abundant 
feeding ground for the beetles. 

Q. About what age do trees become immune? 

A. They w^ill never become immune. The borers seem to start 
work in this state when the trees are about two or three years old and 
that would indicate to me that it is about the time the trees are set out. 

Q. That beetle has done a lot of damage in the East, has it not? 

A. Not this particular one. It has been known to cause a little 
damage from time to time. The round-headed borer in some seasons 
works in nurseries so bad as to destroy half the trees. In one case 
a man found 30 beetles in one tree (in an old tree in an orchard). 

Q. What would be the objection to using tar paper? 

A. There have been reports from those who have tried it that it 
causes the death of the trees ; others say that it does not damage them. 
To be on the safe side, we do not recommend tar paper. 

Q. How high should the paper be? 

A. As high as the first limb ; 15 or 18 inches from the ground. 
Put some whitewash on above that for a way and the beetle should 
not attack them, as they would not go through the paper. 

There are a number of insects which work upon the leaves of the 
apple ; one of those, known as the apple tingis, gets on the under side 
of the leaves, and when very abundant do considerable damage by 
causing the loss of vitalit3^ In appearance they are flat and nearly as 
broad as long. Under a hand lens. the wings appear like fine lace. 
Those insects are somewhat hard to control, but ordinarily can be 
kept in check with an application of what is known as black leaf to- 
bacco spray, and applied about one to 50. 



132 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

Plant Lice on the Apple. 

While there may be a few other species of plant lice attacking the 
apple in Oregon, only the included species seem to be causing any 
serious damage. At least two of these are known to attack both the 
apple and the pear, and the same remedies will apply on both kinds 
of trees. 

Green Apple Aphis. 

This apple pest lives entirely upon the apple, pear and related 
plants and does not migrate to grasses, woods and vegetables, as do 
probably the following species. The eggs are deposited in the fall 
upon the young shoots of the trees and water sprouts, the latter being 
the favorite. The eggs hatch the following spring into small green 
lice, which are known as the stem mothers. Upon hatching they go 
to the tender buds, where they feed and develop into mature forms. 
The spring forms and all following generations of the summer months 
are females which produce living young instead of eggs. The first 
generation are all wingless, but later in the spring many lice appear 
and these migrate to other trees, where they start new colonies, 
mostly wingless. During October and November males and egg-laying 
females are produced, and the females lay the eggs which are to carry 
the insects through the winter. "When first laid the eggs are green, 
but they soon change to a shiny black. The unwinged females are 
light greenish in color, with black honey tubes and dusky atennae. 
The winged females, which are the majority forms, are greenish in 
color with a head and wing-bearing portion of the body black. 

Remedies. 

These are properly discussed under early spring, winter and 
summer sprays. Winter or early spring sprays : Lime-sulphur used, 
winter strength (1-10 or 1-12) will undoubtedly kill many of the eggs, 
but to get the best results, this application should be made just as 
the buds are turning green. At that time most of the eggs will have 
hatched and the young are more easily killed than are the eggs. 
Black leaf, diluted one gallon to 40 gallons of the spray, may also be 
added if the lime-sulphur does not seem entirely efficient or it can be 
diluted with water instead. 

Summer Sprays. — No definite date or time can be given for these 
sprays, and the only recommendation that can be made is to spray 
when the lice become abundant. Black leaf seems to be the most 



INJURIOUS ORCHARD INSECTS 



133 



favored spray at this time, and when applied one to 60 seems to be 
thorcughly efficient. Black leaf "40." which is supposed to be a 
concentrated form of black leaf, is now recommended in place of the 
black leaf. Kerosene emulsion, containing 6 to 7 per cent of oil, is 
probably as efficient as black leaf and is cheaper, but needs more time 
and care in preparation. When used it should be properly made and 
thoroughly emulsified. Since these species cause the leaves to curl 
and is protected by them, the best results are obtained by spraying 
early, before the leaves curl badly, or, if later, the spray should Oe 
applied thoroughly and with considerable force to reach the lice. 

The Brown Apple Aphis. 

From observations and reports it would seem that next to the 
woolly aphis the brown apple aphis is, perhaps, the most serious plant 
louse attacking the apple in Oregon. This species not only feeds upon 
the leaves and the new growth, but also attacks the fruit spurs and 
fruit, the greatest damage being done to the spurs. Most of the at- 
tacks, however, are confined to the inner portions of the tree. 

Dr. Britton states that the eggs are smaller than those of the 
green apple aphis, and one often needs to hunt carefully in order to 
find them at all, as they are hidden around the buds, sometimes partly 




Orchaid. near Medford, Rogue River Valley, Oregon. 



134 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

under the scales. In Oregon, observations have led us to believe that 
the brown apple aphis sometimes lays numerous eggs on the young 
shoots, among those of the green aphis and that the eggs eannot be 
readily separated. The eggs of both species hatch at the same time in 
the spring and the young can easily be separated before they have 
grown much. Hatching begins just before the buds open. The young 
lice crawl into the expanding buds and feed upon the blossoms and 
3'oung fruit. These are the stem mothers and are wingless. Later 
generations become winged and migrate to some unknown summer 
food plant, but not until very serious damage has been done to the 
fruit, as well as to the fruit spurs. In the spring both the winged and 
the wingless forms are brownish red with a yellowish tinge. The 
winged forms, however, of both spring and fall have black heads and 
that portion of the body to which the wings are attached is also black. 
In the fall both forms are rosy red with a greenish yellow tinge. The 
same sprays which are used for the green apple aphis also apply to 
these species. 

The Woolly Apple Aphis. 

(Schizonoura lanigora.) — This species is not ordinarily a leaf 
feeder but may, when abundant, be found on the stems of the leaves 
and on young apples. The feeding in general is confined to the bark 
of the parts above the ground, or on the roots below the surface of the 
soil. At first glance a number of these lice feeding together in an old 
scar or on a young twig appear like a small mass of moving cotton. 
Upon close inspection this mass will be found to contain numerous 
individuals covered with white waxy substance which take the shape 
of threads, and which serve as more or less protection to the louse, 
although they can be easily rubbed off, thus exposing the purplish 
brown body to view in each group. In the fall of the year, winged 
individuals may be noticed. The wings appear dusky and project 
straight out from the cotton masses. 

There is a wide difference between the life history of this and the 
preceding species, in that some of the lice attack the roots, as well as 
the upper portion of the tree. Professor C. P. Gillette, of Colorado, 
has shown that in the spring there may be four means of starting the 
summer infection. First, by the individuals which have lived over 
winter in the parts above ground and hidden in old wounds or scars ; 
second, by the early hatching of the stem mothers ; third, by the numer- 
ous immature lice which may hibernate over winter at the base of the 
tree near the surface of the ground ; fourth, by the overwintering half- 
grown individuals which spend the winter on the roots and migrate 



INJURIOUS ORCHARD INSECTS 135 

upward in the spring. These conditions are brought about in a very- 
natural manner, and vary in different climates, as the regular habit 
of the insect would be to produce eggs in the fall, as do other species 
of his family. Those individuals which are able to live over in the old 
scars and at the base of the tree are considerably protected from cold, 
as are also those about the roots. The root form probably instinctively 
seeks for the roots, both because of the protection from the enemy and 
because of the better feeding conditions. The lice which appear in the 
spring and through the summer are all wingless and the winged forms 
do not appear again until in the fall. Anyone who has observed badly 
injured trees can hardly fail to see that the many knots or swellings 
formed on the roots, trunks and limbs, are not natural, and that the 
vitality of the tree must be greatly reduced. The root injury is per- 
haps the most serious, as the roots often die and become decayed, thus 
weakening the support of the tree, and partially cutting off the food 
supply. The remedies should begin with a thorough inspection of the 
nursery stock when received; any clots of dirt hanging to the roots 
should be washed off, and if any lice are found either in the roots or 
top, the stock should be thoroughly sprayed w^ith or dipped into lime- 
sulphur. On parts attacked above ground any spray which will kill 
other plant lice will also destroy this species. 

In conclusion I wish to say just a few words about bee-keeping 
in connection with fertilization of the orchard. In order to get good 
fruit you must have cross fertilization. In order to carry the pollen 
from one flower to another you must depend upon the insects largely 
to do it. I think it is only a question of time when every well-kept 
orchard will have one or more hives of bees. We have at the college 
for the first time a department of apiculture in connection with 
orcharding as well as keeping bees for profit. 



The Codling Moth 

Professor A. B. Cordley, of the Oregon Agricultural College. 

^^?^HE very fact that so many have come out tonight to listen to a 
V^V talk on such a dry and uninteresting subject as the codling moth 
certainly speaks well of the interest in the subject of horticulture, and 
that argues well for your future success. I do not know whether 
there is any phase of the subject that is more interesting than the 
consideration of the various pests, and it has been my fortune or mis- 
fortune for the past 35 years to be brought face to face and hand to 
hand with the problem until I see pests in all directions. 

I suppose, however, that in taking up any line of work we Amer- 
icans realize that we must take the bad phase with the good, and 
really, in a sense, I suppose it is the spirit and energy with which we 
go at the control or the removing of an unfavorable condition that 
makes us so generally successful. 

I suppose the first topic that you will be interested in regarding 
the codling moth will be that feature that is sometimes brought up bj' 
the various real estate agents that the codling moth is not so likely to 
be present in some localities as in others, or that some particular region 
is likely to be immune from this insect. 

It has been my experience the past 15 years in this state, from the 
fruit-growing standpoint, that it is a region that is immune from the 
codling moth to a certain extent, but not enough to justify anyone to 
advertise this in reference to growing apples. The codling moth is a 
cosmopolitan pest. It came to us from the Mediterranean regions. It is 
a pest in all apple-growing sections wherever the apple is grown in a 
commercial way, from South Africa to Southern Siberia and from 
Australia to Nova Scotia, and we would naturally find it within the 
borders of Oregon. A region that would be absolutely immune from 
the codling moth would not be possible. It is not a fact because it is 
not true. I do not mean to say that in all regions of the state that 
insect will cause the same proportion of damage to the fruit, because 
that is not true. The advantages of some localities arise from climatic 
conditions. We demonstrated very conclusively that it is not likely to 
be a serious pest where the evening temperature in spring drops below 
60 degrees. Eggs are deposited mostly in the evening, and it is very 
rarely that eggs are deposited Avhere the temperature is below 60 de- 



THE CODLING MOTH 137 

grees, so we are not likelj^ to find that the codling moth is as injurious 
as it is in the warmer valleys ; not even in the Willamette A^alle y 
as it is in some other valleys in the state. In other words, wherever 
we find the evening temperature early in spring ranging for a good por- 
tion of the evening about 60 degrees, there is not the same amount of 
injury to the fruit as in warmer climates. 

That is about all there is to the immunity claim. The codling 
moth is an insect known most widely, of course, as an apple pest, and 
it destroys in a commercial sense anywhere from 5 to 10 per cent of the 
fruit in orchards not properly cared for or properly sprayed. In the 
"Willamette Valley I presume today a very rough estimate of the injury 
to an uncared for orchard is possibly about 35 per cent — some years 
less, some years more; some orchards less, some more. I notice in 
some of your old-time orchards it destroys from 75 to 100 per cent, but 
not far from 35 per cent would be the average. It is an insect which 
anyone going into the orchard business must be prepared to contend 
with. 

There is no line of industry that calls for more study or thought 
than agriculture in general, and there is no particular branch of agri- 
culture that requires more care and attention than horticulture, and 
there are none of the problems of the horticulturist more involved 
than those to keep the trees in good health and produce a crop free 
from defect. 

Therefore it is, I believe, that the more any orchardist can learn 
of the history and habits of the various pests he has to fight, the better 
success he will have in his warfare. I shall speak for a few moments 
on the life history of the insect, so you can better wield the rod that 
has the spray nozzle on it. It can be pictured as a circle. The codling 
moth, like many other insects, passes through four stages : The egg, 
the larva or worm, the pupa and the moth, and those four stages, 
taken together, form the circle, the generation of brood, and since 
that complete circle is finished or completed twice each year, from the 
egg to the codling moth, it is said to be two-brooded. There are two 
complete circles or generations, hence the insect is two-brooded. 

I will illustrate by slides the various stages of the insect. The 
larva or worm is about three-fourths of an inch long when fully 
grown, and of a pinkish color. In the fall these larvae leave the fruit 
and seek some place in which to pass the winter, and it makes no differ- 
ence whether we are in the south, where the codling moth is three- 
brooded, or whether we are in the northeastern part of the United States. 
where it is one-brooded, or in Oregon, where it is two-brooded. It has 
always wintered in this state. It seeks some secluded spot under the 
bark, or in the crevices about warehouses or storehouses, anywhere 



138 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




Orchard, near The Dalles, Oregon. 



that it can find shelter for winter, and there spins a little white silken 
cocoon, in which it passes the winter. If you go into your orchard 
and carefully search under the bark (in most of them you will not 
have to search very carefully), you will likely find under some of the 
scales these silken white cocoons, but you will not find the insect this 
time of the year. It will be in the cocoon, but it will still be in the 
larva or worm form. It will remain in that condition for some time. 
I will not go into details right now. 

Later the larva changes to the pupa, and then to the moth. Now 
in a general way we may say it will remain under the bark, depending 
upon the climatic conditions, until late in February or possibly until 
April 1. Then the larva changes from the pupa to a quiescent form in 
which it remains for a variable length of time, depending upon climatic 
conditions, but on the average about four weeks, and then gives forth 
the moth. You will never find one on the outside of the bark. They 
will always go under to be protected from the inclemencies of the 
weather. 

In some unaccountable way, I suppose we entomologists are re- 
sponsible for the belief that there is a direct relation between the time 
when these moths appear and the time when the spray pump should be 
started. "We shall see later that this is not true. These moths may 
begin to appear as early as April 10, and they continue to appear up to 



THE CODLING MOTH 



139 




Young apple orchard, Yakima Valley, Washington. 



as late as the 10th of July. Hence it is that the relation between the 
appearance of the moth and the time of starting the spray pump is not 
a close one, for early moths in this state, that is, those which come cut 
during the cold, rainy weather of spring, usually die without deposit- 
ing eggs. It is only the later ones that are of any interest to us from an 
economic standpoint. These which emerge from the 15th of June to the 
15th of July deposit eggs. Eather than one should pay any attention to 
the time at which the moths appear, I would suggest that it would be a 
good plan for every orchardist, if possible, to become acquainted with 
the eggs of these insects and learn when they are deposited in their 
particular locality. No one can tell you, because it varies with the 
seasons and with the particular location of the orchard. At Cor- 
vallis these eggs are deposited ordinarily not much before the 25th 
of June, and from then on to possibly the middle of July. It used to 
be stated that the eggs were deposited in the calyx of the apple. That 
arose from the fact that a large proportion of the worms enter at that 
point. Very, very few, indeed, of the eggs of the codling moth are 
laid upon the fruit at all. They are laid upon the leaves, and the 
young larvae at a certain time feed upon the leaves. If they would 
continue to do so, I would bear with them with patience, but those 
that are hatched upon the apple, or even hatched upon the leaf and 



140 APPI-E GROWIXG IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

by migration finally reach the apple in search of some seclusion to 
protect them from their enemies, amount to about 35 per cent when 
they enter the blossom at the calyx end. 

This illustrates a very nice point that was brought out in our 
experiments some years ago. There has been a question whether the 
codling moth would live through the season if there was no fruit. It 
has been suggested that in restricted localities, where there was a 
practical failure of the fruit crop, it would be advisable to destroy 
what few apples were on the trees. We tried it at Corvallis, experi- 
menting Avith them all through one summer. In attempting to hatch 
some eggs upon leaves, we found that the worms began to feed 
upon leaves after hatching, and I carried them nearly to maturity. Some 
have bred them clear through the generation depending upon the 
leaves. The first attack of the codling moth is often made upon the 
side of the fruit, usiTally from 30 to 35 per cent. 

Very shortly after the larva has hatched it travels all over the 
fruit. Usually it enters at the calyx simply for the reason that it can 
get better protection. It feeds immediately under the surface for 
two or three days, and it then begins to bore toward the center of the 
fruit. It spends from three to four weeks in the fruit, often less than 
that, depending upon the weather. This represents the first attack 
of the larva in the calyx by which it enters the fruit. It pushes off 
a crust which serves for a protection to the larva by preventing the 
entrance of parasites to its door. It is rather an unsightly mar to the 
fruit, but gives a good indication to the wormy fruit, and really be- 
comes of some value in attempting to cull it out when packing. 

After becoming fully grown the larva bores through the core of 
the apple, where it has been feeding, to the side of the fruit for the 
purpose of emerging. It then builds a silken web over the entrance, 
and goes back into the fruit and stays a couple of days, until it is 
fully developed. Then it leaves the fruit and falls to the ground or 
crawls down the branches seeking for some place under the scaly bark 
in which it can pupate. One of the old methods usually recom- 
mended for controlling this insect was to pasture sheep and hogs in 
the orchard to destroy the wormy fruit, but this is only a very 
imperfect remedy, owing to the fact that a very large proportion of the 
larva do not fall to the ground, but seek pupating quarters in the 
tree itself. 

Now I will attempt, if possible, to show something of the relation 
of the life history and the methods that we shall employ in spraying, 
and I may say at the beginning that there are at least three well 
defined methods of spraying for the codling moth. In 1876, I believe 



THE CODLING MOTH 141 

it was, Professor Cook, of the Michigan College of Agriculture, who 
recommended to some New York orchardist that he spray his trees 
with paris green for the purpose of destroying canker worms. No 
method of spraying for codling moth had been discovered by this 
time, so this spraying was for an entirely different insect. The or- 
chardist followed Dr. Cook's directions, and noted in the fall that he 
was comparatively free from the codling moth, and reported the con- 
dition to the state meeting of the New York State Horticultural 
Society. Professor Cook followed it up the next season and for 
several years afterward, repeating the experiment, and found invari- 
ably that the practice gave good results. Now Professor Cook, like 
all entomologists of the time, thought the eggs were deposited in the 
calyx, and that the larva all entered at that part, and that the only 
way to kill the moth would be to spray at the particular time that 
the eggs were being laid, and so he stated in his publication, and 
advised orchardists to spray early, immediately after the petals had 
fallen, and that advice has been followed by Eastern orchardists and 
entomologists ever since with remarkably good results. So you will 
find the Eastern method consists of applying a mist-like spray just 
after the time the petals have fallen. 

When I came to this state, 15 years ago, most of the orchardists 
of Oregon were following the Eastern method, and obtaining very 
indefinite results. I remember speaking at a Farmers' Institute the 
first winter I was here and the statement was made that it did not 
give satisfactory results, and for several years I was at a loss to 
find out why that was true. I saw it was true because in our experi- 
ments at Corvallis we did not get satisfactory results in following 
the Eastern methods. Then at Corvallis we found that under the 
conditions we have here there is considerable difference where spring 
comes rapidly and suddenly. Under such conditions the eggs of the 
moth are deposited usually within a comparatively short time after 
the petals have fallen. Here in the Willamette valley the blossoms 
usually are all off by May 10. and it is very rare that eggs are deposited 
before the l(/tn of June, and the larva does not begin to enter the fruit 
until the 1st of July, and that suggested to me that we should sup- 
plement the Eastern practice by late spraying, and upon trying that 
method we obtained much better results. 

Within the last four or five years Dr. Ball, of the Idaho Experi- 
ment Station, and Professor Mylander, of the Washington station, 
advised another m^ethod which gives most excellent conditions. It is 
known as the one-spray method, and is exactly the same as recom- 
mended by Professor Cook, of Michigan, with the exception that 
Professors Ball and Mylander 's methods of applying the spray are 



142 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

with a great deal of force, and applying it in the blossom. Professor 
Ball was first to call attention to the fact that the calyx of the apple 
consists of two cavities, bnt that there is one cavity above the stamen 
and another below, and he made the further discovery that the larva 
very largely feeds in the lower cavity, and if we apply the spray in 
the form of a mist it is not effective, as it does not enter the lower 
cavity and hence becomes valueless. He therefore suggested that the 
spray should be applied with a great deal of force, with the idea of 
breaking down and filling this cavity. 

I am free to say that in our work at Corvallis we have not been 
able to obtain as good results under our conditions, and I was very 
much gratified in a way to receive substantiation of the results that 
have been obtained by the United States Department of Agriculture 
in the East, because I just read the latest bulletin which has been 
issued by the department, giving the tests of four orchards in the 
East, and they find that the results are not as satisfactory. I attribute 
the good results obtained by Ball and Mylander to the peculiar con- 
ditions Avhich are found in the semi-arid regions. Under the condi- 
tions in which we spray in this state there is no particular advantage 
in following the one-spray method because we have to control by 
spraying methods more than the one pest. We have the moth, apple 
scab and anthracnose and, if we must spray more than once, it is very 
little added expense to add the arsenate of lead, the poison, to this. 

The practice then which we follow and which we recommend for 
Western Oregon at least is to spray right after the blossoms fall with 
the arsenate of lead, 2 pounds to 50 gallons of water and 50 gallons 
of lime-sulphur solution, because therefore we make a combined spray 
and apply directly after the blossoms have fallen. We could then 
omit all further spraying until about the first of July, because there 
is no need of making a spraying between the time the petals fall and 
the time the larva begin to enter the fruit which is about the first of 
July. That is the time you want to begin this supplementary spraying 
that is so valuable. 

The whole theory for spraying for the codling moth is to have the 
whole fruit covered with the spray so that the first meal taken by the 
young larva will be a poisonous one. If we could do this first spray- 
ing thoroughly enough to destroy all of the larva of the first genera- 
tion, of course we would have none of the second, and no later spray- 
ing would be necessary, but we have found it impracticable to do this ; 
so about the first of August we make still another spray of arsenate of 
lead in water with the lime-sulphur; and if these applications have 
been made thoroughly that will probably be all that is necessary. 
We found that three were all that were necessary at Corvallis. 



TIIK CODLING MOTH 143 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. What is the remedy for the San Jose scale? 

A. Spray with lime and sulphur in spring or fall. 

Q. Does this apply to Hood River? 

A. Yes, but they have other pests beside the codling moth, so 
it is advisable to use the other sprays. 

Q. Do you start with a fine spray? 

A. Personally, I recommend the mist or the briny spray. As a 
matter of fact, when it comes to spraying for the codling moth, I think 
it makes very little difference. It is a question of doing thorough work. 

Q. What bearing has altitude on these pests? 

A. I think it has no influence whatever. When you go into 
an altitude that will affect pests, say below 60 degrees up to the first of 
June, it would not be practical for fruit growing. I do not know any 
place where apples can escape the codling moth. 

Q. How many pounds pressure are necessary for the pump? 

A. 175 or 200 pounds for the driving spray. 125 to 150 will do 
for the mist spray. 100 will do, but you Avill not get as good a spray. 

Q. Does banding the trees for the purpose of collecting larva do 
any good? 

A. If I were to go into an old, neglected orchard and attempt 
to bring it up I might practice banding for the first season, but it is 
not a practice that can be recommended because it is too expensive. 
By spraying one can reduce the injury to less than 5 per cent, and it 
hardly pays to go to the expense of banding. There are practically 
no orchardists in the state who do it. 

Q. Will you state again the proper time for the various sprays? 

A. The first spray should be made within a week after the 
petals fall. Use two pounds of arsenate of lead to 50 gallons of 
water and 50 gallons of diluted lime-sulphur solution. 

Q. How strong do you make the lime-sulphur solution? 

A. If it is of 30 degree test dilute the one gallon to about 30 or 
35 gallons of water. The second spray should be applied between 
the 25th of June and the 1st of July. The third spray would be the 
1st of August. A fourth spray may be used about the 1st of Septem- 
ber. However, the value of the experiments made at Corvallis does 
not seem to justify the fourth spray. 

Q. What do you mean by spray testing? 

A. We use a little instrument called a hydrometer, which you 



144 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

can obtain for 75 cents, to test the specific gravity of the liquid. If 
on the scale it reads 30 degrees it is about a standard lime-sulphur 
solution. In using the arsenate of lead with lime-sulphur solution 
there is one condition that you want to guard against. When applied 
on very hot days it causes some loss of fruit. It does not cause rust ; 
at least, we have used lime-sulphur four seasons without having any 
rust. Bordeaux mixture used with other mixtures is likely to cause 
rust. In fact, the danger of this is so serious that I can hardly recom- 
mend that spray in the "Willamette valley. 

Q. Can you use any spray for the codling moth that is in a 
mixture ? 

A. Yes; you can use arsenate of lead and black weed spray. 
That is a tobacco compound that can be used about 1 gallon to 60 
gallons of water; say 60 to 75. The manufacturer of the black weed 
has now put a still stronger solution on the market, the black weed 40, 
but I have not tested that. 

Q. If the season is backward and the petals late, would you then 
use the second spray? 

A. Yes; I do not believe the fall of the petals has anything to do 
with the time that the moths lay their eggs. We usually find that the 
petals are all off by the 10th of May at Corvallis. Very rarely indeed 
does any egg-laying begin before the 25th of June. 

Q. What make of spray nozzle is the best? 

A. I do not believe it makes much difference. 

Q. Would you recommend one that would throw a mist? 

A. I am frank to say that I like the mist spray. There is less 
danger when you use a mist spray than when you use a heavy driving 
spray. 

Q. Would there be any advantage in spraying at the present 
date? 

A. There is no benefit from the codling moth. There might be a 
little advantage in spraying for anthracnose at this time. I would 
wait until spring. 

Q. If a man has a large orchard, how much time Avill he have 
after the petals fall? 

A. Not over a week to do good work. 

Q. If one sprays in the fall for anthracnose is it necessary to 
spray in the spring. 

A. Yes, I think so. That brings up a question that is not fully 
determined yet. The lime-sulphur when used in the spring is used 
entirely for the apple-scab. That is a question tliat I am not prepared 
to answer definitely at the present time. 

Q. Is there any danger of affecting the fruit in spraying with 
poison? 



THE CODLING MOTH 145 

A. No appreciable danger. You would have such a small 
amount of poison — two pounds of arsenate which would represent 
less than that in 50 gallons of water. There is no danger whatever. 

Q. What elevation would be prohibitory in attempting to raise 
apples? 

A. I do not know. It depends upon the region. There are parts 
of the country where they raise apples at 4,000 or 5.000 feet elevation, 

Q. Would that refer to the foothills of the Cascades? 

A. I do not know. I would not want to say. Personally I am 
inclined to think it depends upon your soil conditions rather than 
upon the elevation. 

Q. When is the best time to spray for the San Jose scale? 

A. Two seasons of the year. One would be right after the 
leaves fall in the fall, and the other just before the buds start in the 
spring. Preferably the latter. The San Jose scale is hardly an 
orchard problem any more, it is so easily controlled. It cannot thrive 
under good orchard care. 

Q. Did you say to spray for the apple scab before the apples 
were picked? 

A, That is a debated question. The apple scab starts at two 
seasons of the year; one in the spring just about the time the apples 
are forming; and then after the dry season again in the fall; that is, 
when the fall rains begin. If we can control apple scab by spraying 
in the fall after the rains begin, it will also control anthracnose. It 
is a serious question in the fall. Now the question comes up again, 
what will be the effect of spraying before the fruit is taken off? I 
will say that we sprayed 50 acres this fall of the best Spitzenbergs in 
the valley with no detrimental effects, as far as the apples were con- 
cerned, except they necessitated a little rubbing. 

Q. How about the tent caterpillar? What do you do for them? 

A. The best way to destroy them is to use the arsenical sprays ; 
about two or three pounds of arsenate of lead to 50 gallons of water 
when the larvae are small. 

Q. Would there be any virtue in destroying the leaves under the 
trees that are affected? 

A. Yes. if one can plovv' them in and keep them there so as not to 
plow them up in the spring. That would be sufficient. 

Q. Is there any virtue in harrowing the leaves in the spring so 
that they might dry up ? 

A. I do not know, but I do not believe so for this reason — that any 
ground that is in condition to groM^ apples will have moisture enough 
to germinate apple scab spores. 

Q. If plowed under in the fall, how long should they remain in the 

9 



sprmg V 



A. Pretty well until the close of the rainy season. 




Branch of apples from The Dalles (Oregon) district. 

Apple Scab and Crown Gall 

Prof. H. S. Jackson, of the Oregon Agricnltural College. 

PPLE scab is the most serious and most generally distributed 
fungous disease of the apple known, and in the Northwest is 
particularly severe in favorable seasons west of the Cascade moun- 
tains. The summer spore stage of this disease develops on both foliage 
and fruit. On the foliage the spots are at first mere or less circular in 
outline, olive green or brown in color, becoming darker and irregular in 
shape as they become mature. The leaves are frequently more or less 
curled or wrinkled. When the spots are abundant, the leaves fall pre- 
maturely. Considerable defoliation may take place when infestation is 
abundant. 

On the fruit the fungus produces more or less circular spots of a 
greenish-black color. The vegetative stage of the fungus develops, 
under the cuticle of the apple fruit, finally rupturing it by the elonga- 
tion of the threads which bear the spores. The ruptured cuticle may 
frequently be seen clinging as whitish membraneous shreds about the 
edge of recently developed spots. As the spots become older all trace 
of the fungus may become obliterated and the only evidence of the 
former spot is seen in a large or small rough russeted spot. Fre- 



APPLE SCAB AND CROWN GALL 147 

quently the fruit is distorted when mature as the result of early scab 
infections. Where scab spots are abundant the fruit may become 
cracked. Scab in any degree of severity on the fruit renders it un- 
sightly and unmarketable. The spores of the fungus are produced in 
the spots on leaves or fruit in great abundance and are disseminated 
by the wind spreading the disease to other leaves and fruit. One finds 
the scab spots first appearing in the spring on the under side of leaves 
on the lower branches. Spores produced in these spots are dissemi- 
nated by the wind and serve to spread the disease to the young fruit 
and to other leaves. Several generations may thus occur during the 
season. 

The development of the scab fungus is found to be very much in- 
fluenced by weather conditions. Moisture on the surface of leaves and 
fruit is essential to the germination of the spores and the consequent 
infection of the plant. On this account scab is found to spread most 
rapidly in spring, early summer and late fall. The disease spreads 
little, if any, during the dry season. The Mycelium of the fungus 
present on the leaves which fall to the ground in the fall does not 
die, but develops in these leaves during the winter as a Saprophyte, 
and in the spring produces spores quite different from those borne in 
the spots on living leaves and fruit, both in the manner of formation 
and in the shape and size. The spores found in the spots on leaves 
and fruit are one-celled, rarely two-celled, and are borne on the ends 
of short threads, while the spores developed on the dead leaves in 
spring are always distinctly two-celled and are borne in little cylin- 
drical sacs called asci. A considerable number of these spores or sacs 
are borne in a hollow more or less pear-shaped receptacle buried in the 
tissues of the leaf. These receptacles containing the asci, known as 
perithecia, project from the surface of the leaf when mature as little 
black elevations. These are barely visible to the naked eye. At ma- 
turity an opening appears in the projecting elevations. The asci 
elongate through this opening and the spores are ejected forcibly, and, 
wafted by currents of air, may be carried to the young leaves of the 
apple, where they germinate and produce the first scab spots. This 
spore stage of the fungus which develops on the fallen leaves is some- 
times called the ''sexual" or ''perfect" stage. The stage which de- 
velops on the living leaves and fruit is called the conidial or "summer 
spore" stage. The sexual spores are disseminated about the time the 
blossoms open. So far as is known, all primary infection of the leaves 
and fruit in the spring takes place following the disseminations of the 
sexual spores. As with all fungous diseases of this nature, treatment 
must be preventive rather than curative. The method of treatment 
is dependent on the life history of the fungus causing the disease. Since 



148 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

the fungus winters over on the fallen leaves, it would be advisable to 
destroy all such leaves before blossoming time. It has frequently been 
recommended by pathologists to plow the orchard early before the trees 
blossom, so as to bury the leaves and thus reduce the primary infection. 
Theoretically, the best way to destroy the leaves would be to rake and 
burn them, but pathologists have hesitated to make this recommenda- 
tion on the grounds of impracticability. I am informed by certain 
Hood River growers that they would not consider it at all impractical 
under their conditions to rake and bum the leaves. 

In any case the trees should be given at least three sprayings dur- 
ing the spring. The first application should be made as the blossom 
buds begin to separate in the cluster and show color ; the second should 
be applied just after the petals fall, followed by a third application 
10 days or two weeks later. Should the third application be followed 
by prolonged rains, a fourth may be found profitable. Formerly Bor- 
deaux mixture was used almost entirely as a preventive of scab, but in 
certain sections of this country, notably under the climatic condition 
prevalent in the Northwest, the injury from russeting has been so 
severe as to make its use prohibitive. On this account lime-sulphur 
has largely supplanted Bordeaux as a remedy for apple and pear scab. 
The experience during the present season has shown that care must 
be exercised in the use of lime-sulphur during hot weather. Consider- 
able injury resulted in the Hood Eiver valley wherever the third 
spraying preceded very hot still weather. Under these conditions sun 
scald normally present in slight amount on unsprayed trees, was very 
much increased. A russeting similar to that produced by Bordeaux 
mixture was not uncommon. This is the first season that lime-sulphur 
has produced any serious injury to fruit when used in the proper 
strength. This injury, however, has not been general throughout the 
state. No serious injury has been reported from the Willamette valley. 

The season's experience leaves many growers, particularly those of 
the Hood Eiver, in doubt as to what spray to use. We cannot recom- 
mend the use of the Bordeaux mixture. Lime-sulphur still remains, 
the best remedy yet discovered for apple scab. On account of the 
experience of the past season, however, the grower must use his judg- 
ment about making the third application. In some seasons it would,, 
without doubt, be perfectly safe to omit it, but in seasons favorable to 
the development of scab its omission might prove disastrous. 

On account of the fact that scab develops rapidly in the fall and 
new infections may appear on the fruit, we are ready to recommend 
a fall spraying with summer strength lime-sulphur when the disease 
has not been held in control during the summer and there is consid- 
erable foliage infection, which, under favorable conditions, would bo- 



APPLE SCAB AND CROWN GALL 



149 










^ 
<% 



Truck gardening- and apple growing in the Walla Walla Valley, Washington 



y 



liable to spread to the fruit. The application should be made before 
the fruit is picked and before the fall rains begin. This application, 
while producing a slight deposit on the fruit, does not interfere with 
the uniform coloring of the fruit in the case of red apples. However, 
on account of the fact that a slight sediment is present, it is neces- 
sary to wipe the fruit. Do not use the Bordeaux mixture at this time, 
as it may collect in drops on the fruit and interfere with the uniform 
coloring. A very valid objection to this application, however, is the 
danger of knocking off the fruit during the spraying, and the fact 
that where props are used abundantly it is impossible to drive be- 
tween rows with a spray rig. 

In any case, it is advisable to spray in the fall as soon as possi- 
ble after the fruit is picked. This application is necessary to protect 
the trees from antlu-acnose and will doubtless aid in the control of 
scab. Either the Bordeaux mixture or the lime-sulphur may be used 
in the winter strength. It is possible also that the dormant spray 



150 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

usually applied in the spring of the year may be of benefit in reducing 
scab by preventing the proper production of spores in the pustules 
of the dead leaves. On this account it is well to see that the ground 
as well as the tree is covered by spray. 

It has been shown experimentally that scab may be satisfactorily 
controlled by the fall and early spring applications. These sprayings, 
together with the recommendations regarding burning or plowing 
under the leaves are supplementary methods of control. The regular 
spring sprayings on the foliage should never be omitted. It is im- 
portant to note that lime-sulphur has now been successfully used in 
the state for four years, as a remedy for scab, and for three years the 
remedy has been used successfully in other parts of the country. The 
present season is the first in which any serious injury has resulted 
to the fruit and that having occurred only in the Hood Kiver Valley 
and vicinity. While it is admitted that there is plenty of chance for 
further investigation, which will undoubtedly be continued, it is evi- 
dent that lime-sulphur remains the best remedy so far discovered. 

Crown Gall and Hairy Root. 

There is, perhaps, no disease of the apple and other fruit trees con- 
cerning which there has been as much discussion in recent years 
among plant pathologists, nurserymen and orchardists as the crown 
gall and hairy root. The disease has long been known to attack nur- 
sery stock in one form or another, and orchard trees of all sorts as 
"well as many of the small fruits. Eecent investigations of this trouble 
liave shown that the disease as it occurs on its various host plants is 
in many cases identical as to cause, and in nearly all cases evidently 
closely related. The general character and virulence of the disease 
are so variable that it is confusing to discuss it in all its relations at the 
same time, so it has seemed best tonight to confine the remarks to the 
disease as it occurs upon the apple. The apple was selected for discus- 
sion because it was felt that a large proportion of the audience was, or 
ought to be, particularly interested in this subject. 

Various names have been applied to this disease among which 
may be mentioned, besides the names previously given, the following : 
''Root knot," "root gall," "woolly knot," "tumors," "trunk kernel," 
etc. Crown gall and hairy root are best known as occurring on nur- 
sery stock or young trees. Several forms of the disease are known, 
including the following: Soft form of crown gall, hard form of crown 
gall, simple form of hairy root, woolly knot form of hairy root, aerial 
form of hairy root. The soft form of crown gall is found on seedlings, 
grafted and budded trees, and consists first of a soft, succulent 



APPLE SCAB AND CROWN GALL 151 

growth of callous-like tissue, which is white in color on the surface. 
As the galls mature the surface becomes dark brown in color or almost 
black and the tissues often become quite hard, due to the formation of 
woody tissues. The surface is wrinkled and convoluted, due to un- 
equal growth. A bark is not formed and the galls usually decay at 
the end of the season's growth. 

The hard form of crown gall is found on older trees in the nur- 
sery and orchard. At first they are similar to the soft galls, but soon 
become woody and develop bark. They persist and continue to grow 
slowly from year to year. The color of the surface of mature galls 
is similar to healthy bark. The simple form of hairy root is most 
common on seedligs, but occur occasionally on grafted and budded 
trees. In this form numerous roots are found growing at right angles 
to the surface of the tap root or stem. They may occur scattered 
or in tufts. These roots differ from normal fibrous roots in being 
more succulent or of greater diameter. When dry they become 
hair-like in appearance. The woolly knot form is found on older 
seedlings or on grafted and budded trees. This form somewhat re- 
sembles a case of hard crown gall which had developed an abundance 
of the succulent roots described above from its surface. 

The aerial form of hairy root, often called "stem tumors," or 
locally "trunk kernel," develops on branches and trunks of trees most 
commonly in the orchard. At first they appear as smooth swellings, 
which are rounded, but often irregular in outline. They later de- 
velop on the inside an abundance of adventitious roots which break 
through the bark, giving it a warty appearance. These roots do not 
develop further than the surface of the tree, but morphologically are 
very similar to the woolly knot form of hairy root, and if the branches 
are cut off and placed in moist soil or sand will develop into typical 
cases of woolly knot. 

Recent investigations of the plant pathologists of the Department 
of Agriculture have shown that both the crown gall and hairy root 
forms of the disease are due to bacteria which have been isolated, 
grown in pure culture and the typical disease produced by inoculation. 
It has not yet been shown that the bacteria from both forms are the 
same, or that one form may be produced by inoculating with the germ 
of the other. The several forms of the disease which have been de- 
scribed, however, are so nearly related morphologically that it is not 
improbable that all are caused by the same organism and are merely 
forms of the same disease. At least, they may be so considered for 
practical purposes. * 

Crown gall and hairy root develop on the trees in the nursery and 
are the most serious diseases with which the nurseryman has to con- 



152 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

tend. Many states have enacted laws prohibiting nurserymen from 
selling infected stock, and since the diseases are everywhere present 
in nurseries, these laws, where enforced, have caused a great loss to 
the nurserymen. A great deal of value might be learned from a 
detailed discussion of the disease as it occurs in the nursery, but 
sufficient time is not available, and, since this is not primarily an 
audience of nurserymen, I will discuss only the features which I be- 
lieve will be of interest to the orchardist. 

Crown gall and hairy root in all its forms develops, so far as is 
known, only at wounds. Throughout all seedling nurseries in the 
United States crown gall was found to be present in one-half per 
cent of all trees and hairy root on one per cent. Since these seedlings 
are either used for piece or whole root grafts, or as stock in which to 
practice budding, it is seen that unless the nurseryman is careful to 
use only healthy seedlings many grafted and budded trees are infested. 
In root-grafted trees wounds are made at the lower end of the scion 
piece and at the upper and lower ends of the root piece ; since all 
forms may develop at wounds we found crown gall or hairy root 
developing at these points — that is, at the great union either on the 
scion or root piece and at the end of the root. Ninety per cent of the 
galls formed in this way are found to develop from the lower end of 
the scion piece at the graft union. On budded trees crown gall or 
hairy root develops at the root tip where the tap root has been cut off 
and at the wound made in inserting the bud. The hairy root forms 
are more abundant than the gall forms on the budded trees. The 
disease on the whole develops more abundantly on root-grafted trees 
than on the budded trees. 

Th crown gall forms are found to develop most abundantly on 
heavy soils while the hairy root forms may be more abundant on light 
soils. There has been a great difference of opinion regarding the 
amount of damage resulting in orchard from planting diseased trees. 
There have been many reports of great losses to orchard trees due 
to the action of crown gall and hairy root, many writers claiming 
that diseased trees never come into profitable bearing. It is evident 
that much confusion has resulted from the fact that the disease is very 
serious in the orchard on some fruits and writers have assumed that 
the same was true of the apple. It is also evident that other root 
troubles, notably root rot, has been confused with crown gall. Care- 
ful investigations have shown that much less injury has resulted in 
the orchard from planting diseased trees than was supposed. I men- 
tion these points not to encourage nurserymen to sell diseased trees, 
nor the grower to plant them, but to correct a prevalent idea and, 
perhaps, to encourage those who have already planted diseased trees. 



APPLE SCAB AND CROWX GALL 153 

It is known, however, that some loss does occur on the apple in the 
orchard Avhen diseased trees are planted. I know of several cases 
where trees were evidently stunted by the growth of hairy root or 
croAvn gall on the roots. It has also been shown that trees affected 
with crown gall are more liable to die the first year or two after being 
set in the orchard than healthy trees. The orchardist is urged to plant 
only the healthiest trees obtainable. The initial cost of planting is so 
small that it does not pay to take risks. If a tree becomes diseased in 
an orchard during the first few years and the growth of the tree is 
hindered, then it is best to replant with a healthy tree. If old trees 
in an orchard are found infested and yet in good growing condition 
and bearing good crops, it is best to let them alone and not attempt to 
cut out the galls. If the trees are seriously affected by the growth of 
the galls or hairy root, then the grower may try cutting out the galls, 
disinfecting the surface and painting the wounds, but it is usually not 
found to be successful. 

If for any reason it should be thought necessary to plant infested 
trees, then do not attempt to cut out the galls before planting. It 
has been found that the young trees are most seriously injured by the 
wounds formed in cutting out than by the galls. Stock should be care- 
fully inspected to see that the nurseryman has not cut off the galls 
before shipment and any trees showing evidence of such treatment 
should be discarded. Fruit inspectors should use care in inspecting 
stock, and make sure that all trees condemned are really affected with 
crown gall or hairy root. All warts and pimples are not necessarily 
crown gall and all fibrous roots are not necessarily hairy roots. There 
is little or no danger of diseased trees in a shipment of nursery stock 
causing infection in healthy stock, so there are no grounds for con- 
demning a whole shipment because a few trees are infected. There 
is little or no danger of the disease spreading seriously in the orchard. 

Considerable attention has recently been given to investigations 
of methods whereby the nurserymen may reduce the prevalence of the 
disease in the nursery, and it is found that by practicing certain precau- 
tions and special methods of nursery practice the trouble may be very 
materially reduced. Nurserymen are urged to inform themselves of 
these results, which may be found discussed in Bulletin No. 186 of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. "When a tree is diseased with crown gall, and that tree is taken 
out and a healthy tree planted, is the healthy tree liable to be infested? 



154 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. No, not in the case of the apple. I wish to point out that my 
remarks pertain to the apple alone. If it were a peach tree, I would 
say that it would be likely to be infested. 

Q. What protection can the nurserymen take to prevent this? 

A. He can be careful about using only healthy seedlings. It is 
found that throughout all seedling nurseries in all parts of the United 
States there is a normal development of crcwn gall. It is generally 
true that one-half of one per cent of seedlings are affected with the 
crown-gall form, and one per cent with the hairy-root form. That is 
one method. I have stated that disease occurs only at wounds, so any 
reduction in the amount of wounds reduces the effect upon the trees in 
the form of crown gall in the nursery. It is also found that disease is 
more prevalent upon root-grafted trees than upon budded, for the rea- 
son that less serious wounds are made. It is found that the disease 
develops at the graft union, when it is not well made. 

Q. Are irrigated trees more subject to this disease? 

A. Not so far as we know. 

Q. Are seedlings grown in France and other countries as sus- 
ceptible as those grown in this country? 

A. The question has often been raised as to whether the French 
stock seedlings grown in France were more or less susceptible in 
other countries. It is found that there is a slight difference in favor 
of the American grown seedlings as far as crown gall is concerned. 



Poultry in an Apple Orchard 

By Professor H. L. Blanchard, of the Washington State Experiment 
Station, Puyallup, Washington. 

^T^ HAT I will talk about tonight is logically along lines connecting 
\\/ poultry culture with orcharding. Both are profitable lines of 
farming if intelligently managed. I doubt very much if scien- 
tific farming (and orcharding is farming) can be conducted along 
any line in these times without poultry. 

I have been interested in poultry culture for something like twenty- 
two or twenty-three years, and I have been studying and observing 
during these years the work of those who were interested in the same 
lines of investigation. About 12 years ago I had occasion to ascertain 
as nearly as possible the amount of money that the State of Washington 
was sending abroad for poultry and poultry products, and learned that 
we were sending out $300,000 annually. The farmers of the Middle 
West were getting the money that our own farmers should have had. In 
a more recent investigation I learned that the State of Washington 
paid out more than $4,000,000 for poultry and poultry products. There 
is a constant increase from year to year. We have many poultry 
organizations throughout our state; practically every county in the 
state has- a poultry organization, and, notwithstanding that, and the 
interest that is being taken in the poultry business, the demand is far 
oustripping the supply year by year. 

Too Much Money Goes East. 

Admitting that beyond any question poultry culture can be profit- 
alily carried on in the Northwest, is it not a great mistake to allow 
so much money to go out of our own country for poultry and poultry 
products? In Oregon the conditions are the same. Large sums of 
money for poultry and poultry products which your producing class 
ought to have are being sent to Eastern producers. Why is this being 
done? Simply because the impression prevails that there is not much 
money in poultry; that feed is too high; that there is something the 
matter with this country, notwithstanding the fact that eggs are 30, 
40, 50 and 60 cents per dozen at different seasons of the year. That 
is two or three times as much as eggs ouglit to cost. NotAvithstanding 
that fact, we are told that there is not much in the business— nothing 



POULTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 157 

in poultry. Some people will take poultry and make their hens net 
them $3 and $4 a year, after paying their feed bill. That is being done 
in a great many instances throughout the West. If one person can do 
that, another can. Poultry culture is not so scientific that the average 
person cannot undertake it without a fair hope of success. 

My observation teaches me that the orchardist who has a flock of 
poultry roaming through his orchard from one year's end to the 
other has better apples than the man who has no poultry running in 
his orchard. Everything points to the fact that poultry are profitable, 
even if they do not lay at all. We have rhubarb growers over in our 
country who keep cows, and they say that they can well afford to keep 
them even if they do not get a drop of milk, just for the fertilizing 
elements available to use in the rhubarb patches. 

Poultry Did the Fertilizing. 

Not long ago I was in a community in Washington where orchard- 
ing is extensively engaged in. I went up on an elevation on one side of 
the man's farm and looked down upon a patch of his orchard that 
looked green and healthy, whereas the rest of the orchard was wilted, 
\vhich showed that something was the matter. I asked the man how 
it came to be that way. It was in the dry season and the orchard 
was in a dry locality. ]\Iost of the crops there had been affected by 
the dry weather. He said: "You see the foliage is still green and 
growing. There is where my poultry pens are," He had poultry in 
his orchard covering a certain area. The poultry were working, culti- 
vating and fertilizing, and kept it in perfect growing condition in 
spite of the dry weather. The rest of the orchard had no poultry. 
There is no question about the fact that poultry are of great service in 
the way of cultivating and maintaining the dust mulch in fruit or- 
chards. In the valley where I live in Puyallup they are engaged 
quite extensively in small fruits. I believe we have one of the largest 
and strongest small fruit associations in the country. The berry 
growers are becoming very much interested in poultry. The fact is, 
they do not pretend to do very much with berries unless they introduce 
poultry. Poultry keep the weeds down and keep a dust mulch, and 
save a great deal of labor. Many of these men have told me that it 
would pay them to keep poultry even if they did not receive any eggs. 

It is not necessary to keep poultry in an orchard at a loss. There 
are a few things essential to egg production. In the first place one 
must have the right kind of a hen. She must be healthy. You and 
I can do a good day's work well even if we have not been feeling well 



158 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




^m^^im^mmm^.. 



■^isssa^tJKSmm 



rropaiiiig an orchard hi the llu^uo River Valley for smudging. 

for a few days, but when one sees a hen moping around she is not 
going to lay any eggs that day. She will barely eat enough to maintain 
her existence, say nothing about eating enough to make eggs when in 
that condition. It is surprising to me, as I pass through the country, 
to see intelligent people who expect results from poultry when they 
treat them the way many do. These people are the very ones to pro- 
claim that poultry does not pay as a rule. One should be careful in 
the handling of his poultry, the same as in the handling of his chil- 
dren. He must be as careful of the health of his poultry as he is of 
the health of the members of his family. To do that he should first 
give his attention to the matter of a sanitary coop for his poultry. 

A Sanitary Coop. 



What is a sanitary coop for chickens? A coop that is sanitary for 
you and me. Hoav many of us would be willing for the members of our 
family to room there, sleep there and live there ? Not many. A great 
many people visit our experiment station. "We have been there about 
a year and a half. The first work in this poultry plant is to teach poul- 



POULTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 



159 




Night scene in an orclmrd in the Lewiston, Idaho, district. Smudge pots in operation. 

trj^ to people from a practical standpoint ; teach them how to make a 
living; how to make money from chickens. We went to work about 
this matter just as we would if we were on our farms. I have a farm 
in Washington and have had a poultry plant for 20 years. I have 
Jersey cattle and poultry, and each line of farming receives careful 
attention just as though there was but one line. One should treat 
poultry as an adjunct of his orchard work, and he will find it one of 
the most profitable things he can possibly do. We tried to see just 
what we could do at the station last year with poultr.y, starting with 
200 hens. We constructed a house that accommodated them nicely, 
although the location was anything but desirable, being in a shot clay 
ground ; it was a cold, muddy, sticky, bad place for poultry or any 
other stock six months in the year. We constructed a house to meet 
our conditions. I advised our college against putting in a poultry 
plant there after making three visits to the place. I regarded the 
conditions so abominable that I would not be guilty of advising a 
poultry plant being built there. They got one adverse report after 
another, then they reminded me that the people should know that an 
experiment station should be careful in selecting a site upon which 
to construct its business in poultry, and know what were favorable 



160 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

and unfavorable sites for the business, and that it was just as impor- 
tant to know this as anything else. We just had to make a success of 
it, and w^e built our house, met the conditions. This experiment has 
taught me beyond any question that it is not at all difficult to meet 
most any adverse condition. Such conditions in poultry work can be 
met better and easier than in any other line of farming. 

Big Profit the First Year. 

Starting in with 250 pullets— the first pullet year — I turned into 
our state treasury over $2200. It took a building 130 feet long by 12 
feet wide to house these pullets. That is what we call a double 
decker. It would be folly for these pullets to be allowed to run out- 
side under the conditions that existed there. We would not have 
gotten an egg all winter for six or seven months in the year. People 
laughed at and ridiculed us for putting in a poultry plant there, but 
some of the same people are putting in a small plant on their farms. 
I do not mean that these pullets laid eggs that brought $2200. The 
net profit from these pullets was just $8.10 each, but we did the busi- 
ness. That is for the eggs they laid, figuring eggs at the average price. 
To get our start we bought young chickens or hatched out the most 
of them. In all we had 1017 chicks, from which we selected these 250 
pullets and put the others on the market, then when these pullets came 
along in the following spring we hatched more chicks at the sta- 
tion. We conducted our experiment along business lines. 

We selected these 250 pullets and put them into the house when 
they were 3% months of age. When they were from 4 to 51/2 months 
old they began to lay. It does not take long to get returns from a flock 
of pullets, but it takes one a good many years to get a revenue from 
his orchard. One can get something from his poultry while his orchard 
is growing. When the season came around we decided to sell day-old 
chicks. We hatched out between 9000 and 10,000 and sold some 
broilers and some chickens. The total proceeds from, the sales of this 
poultry brought us in a little over $2200 for the year's work. It is a 
legitimate, straight business that any one who wants to interest himself 
in poultry can adopt and follow. 

Hens Grubstaked Him. 

I Avas talking to some people in the central part of the state not 
long ago, where they were setting out young orchards by the thousand 
-trees. They were wondering what they were going to do while their 



POULTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 161 

trees were growing and becoming productive. While we were talking 
that evening, some one in the audience gave me his experience. He 
had gotten to that point in the growing of his orchard where his credit 
was gone. He could not buy flour or sugar at a store. He got word 
some way that there was a flock of chickens for sale in the neighbor- 
hood. He bought them and gave them good care. His credit was re- 
stored and he has become an independent man. He said it surely would 
have been impossible for him to have grown his orchard and owned it 
until it became productive, had it not been for the poultry. If one 
takes up poultry with his orchard work, he should do it right. Have a 
system. Some people like the fancy side of poultry. I like it, but 
have never followed it. I attend the shows, but do not show birds. I 
attempt to raise and sell show birds, but I do not sell them because 
they are show birds, but because they are birds that have been devel- 
oped into extra good layers. They are utility stock, and that is the 
line along which I have been working for 20 years. Profitable poultry, 
like a profitable dairy, must be developed. Unless one is willing to 
become a student of his work and is willing to make a study of his 
business, he wants to let farming alone. It is just as sensible for a 
business man to trust all his business to somebody else and not study 
it, not to keep himself posted and neglect his business, as it would be 
for farmers to think they can farm and make money or make a living 
with indifferent attention. Diversified farming is the most profitable 
throughout the Northwest — say west of the Cascade Mountains. This 
is fast developing into a country of homes, small farms, and to make 
a living on a small farm one must practice diversified farming. 

Soil Will Run Down. 

The orchardist is perhaps an exception. We hear of fabulous 
returns from one, two, three and five-acre orchards. It is possible 
that a man can make a living with fruit without anything else, but if 
one undertakes this he will find that his orchard will be productive for 
a while, but after a few years it will become diseased and grow worse 
every year. 

About a year ago the State Horticulturist was invited to canvass 
the neighborhood of Vancouver. There had been a great deal of 
trouble about the prune orchards there. The orchardists w^ere not 
getting the usual quality of prvmes. Their trees were becoming dis- 
eased, and they did not know what the matter was. They wanted the 
horticulturist to study conditions before the meeting in order to 
advise them intelligently, and he did so. Had I been a prune farmer 
near Vancouver and received the lecture that this horticulturist gave 



162 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

these people I should have felt like going out of business, notwith- 
standing the fact that just a few years before this they were growing 
such an excellent quality of prunes and had such enormous crops. 
What was the matter? The real thing that brought on this trouble 
more than all other things combined was a depleted fertility in the 
soil. When their trees were from one-third to one-half grown they 
bore luscious fruit and were heavily laden, but at the present time 
the branches of the trees were interlocked so a team could hardly get 
through them. The sun could hardly reach the ground because of the 
close association of the trees, and the soil had become practically ex- 
hausted of its fertility. I will venture to say that had those people 
carried flocks of poultry in their orchards they would never had to 
call in the lecturer of the State Horticultural Society. I know from 
my own experience, as I have had an orchard for over 20 years. The 
poultry have been running through half of it all that time, and have 
strolled ever the other half, but have never been confined in it. A 
person can go there any day and pick out the half where the poultry 
were confined. One can pick out the apples from the trees where 
the poultry is running. 

Poultry is Indispensible. 

Poultry is indispensible to an orchard. Orchardists are very apt 
to neglect their soil, both in regard to cultivation and fertilization. 
A horticulturist was delivering a lecture in a demonstration train in 
Washington. He was talking to an audience about the size of this one, 
and was explaining to them how it was that this was the driest year 
ever experienced in the college orchard, still the finest fruit had been 
produced. There were no poultry in the orchard, either. He said that 
during the summer the orchard had been cultivated 17 times. Then 
he said: ''How many of you have cultivated your orchard 17 times 
this year?" No one had anything to say. Then he asked: "How 
many of you have cultivated your orchard once this year?" There 
was not one hand raised. "Why," he said, "don't you ever cultivate 
your orchards over here in Washington?" One man said, "Yes, we 
cultivate them once in five years." 

This horticulturist is of the opinion that just as fine and just as 
high-priced apples can be produced in Western Washington and Oregon 
as in the Wenatchee and Hood River Valleys. He was asked how he 
was going to do it. He said : "Do it just the way the people do it there 
It cannot be done in any other way." He said not to attempt to com- 
pete with the people of the interior in growing red apples, because 
if we did we would get beaten a little, but said we would have the 



POTJLTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 163 

advantage of being able to grow apples that they cannot, particularly in 
growing the yellow apple. Grimes' Golden was recommended as one 
of the best. Since this horticulturist delivered his lecture our Grange 
organization and other fruit growers' associations have almost unani- 
mously adopted with two or three other apples the Grimes' Golden, 
The horticulturist recommended four varieties, but Grimes' Golden is 
the leader. 

Avoid Too Many Varieties. 

The idea of our people is that the different communities work to- 
gether and agree as to the varieties they should grow as a community, 
and go in for these varieties, I think it a wise move. They have taken 
a great deal of interest in the fact that these things can be done, and 
the apple business of Western Washington will be revolutionized within 
a very few years. If that policy will work there, it will work here. 

If one is to be successful in his orchard work he must not neglect 
the fertility of the soil, because that means serious trouble sooner or 
later. Keeping poultry is one of the cheapest ways to do this. If one 
has an orchard and will keep 25 hens on a half acre he will be aston- 
ished inside of two or three years at the condition and quality of his 
fruit and the condition of the trees. A very few chickens running 
in an orchard are valuable. They will keep down the weeds and pests. 
A great many pests live on the ground and the chickens destroy them. 
The continual stirring of the soil during the dry season by poultry 
is a valuable thing, and the keeping of poultry in an orchard is a labor- 
saving institution. 

In regard to the sanitary coop. When you see your neighbor 
making a success of it you will see the difference and begin to keep one 
yourself. There is a right and a wrong way to do this. I mentioned 
a while ago that the poultry must be healthy. A sanitary coop in this 
country is a coop with an 'open front facing the south, when it is pos- 
sible to make it so. Sometimes it seems impossible. When it faces 
the south it gets the sun into it. The old-fashioned coop used to be 
stuck away somewhere over the pigpen or under the cowshed or in the 
horsebarn or the woodshed. All of these places have been utilized as 
chicken coops. In these coops it is dark even at midday when the 
sun is shining. They are filthy and not at all inviting, and a person 
who undertakes to keep poultry under these conditions cannot expect 
to derive very much profit from them. The poultry would not have 
life enough to go • around and scratch among the berry bushes and 
fruit trees. They live just because they have to. 



164 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC XORTIIWEST 

Size of the Henhouse. 

For 30 liens a house sliould he ahout 15 hy 20 feet in size, if one 
buikhs a single story house. If j^ou build a double-story house it should 
be 12 by 15 feet. Our experience leads us to believe that the double- 
decker house of "Western Washington is the best that can be built. T 
have tried this for the last 15 years on my farm, and my poultry have 
not had a case of roup nor any contagious disease. The only thing 
that kills our hens is that they lay so many eggs. 

Poultry should have plenty of air. ]Make a house open without 
a draft in it. People believe that this country demands a tight house. 
An open house is indispensable here. This is my experience. Take a 
damp climate as we have here, and if chickens are housed up tight 
in a house with glass Avindows, conditions are anything but sanitary 
for seven or eight months in the year. It is all unnecessary. Have a 
room 15 feet one way and 12 feet deep. Let it face the south. Put 
two open windows five feet square in the front of the building, and 
tack on the outside two or three-inch poultry netting. On the inside 
put a muslin curtain on a roller just the way we do in our dwellings, 
and when storms come draw the curtain. The storm will be kept out 
and there is no draft, providing the three remaining walls of the coop 
are absolutely tight. They cannot be too tight,. In the ordinary 
chicken-house the boards are nailed on when wet and green, and after 
a while one can see a man as he walks back of the building. The 
chickens gets into a draught and will have the roup in a short time. 
Make the back of the wall as tight as possible. We use ordinary ship-lap. 
First put on building paper next to the studding, then side up over that. 
That makes a tight wall. We do not build our houses for warmth. 
All that poultry need is shelter. It never gets so cold here that poultry 
will suffer. The open-front houses are warmer than the tight ones. 
I am often asked by people who visit our houses what we do when the 
cold snaps come on. Our chickens have large combs and wattles and 
we have never had a frosted comb on our farm. We have Minorcas 
and gave this a fair trial. Two years ago this winter we had a flock 
of Minorcas in a building on one side and another flock on the other 
side. One side of the building was open and the other side tight. 
The result was three or four days after a cold snap the Minorcas in 
the tight room died. In the room provided with the open front and 
just the muslin curtain there was not a frosted comb nor a frosted 
wattle. By actual demonstration the muslin-curtained house was 
proven to be the warmer. 



POULTRY IX AX APPLE ORCHARO 



165 




Blanch of apples from The Dahes (.Oregon), district. 



Open-front House. 



At Cornell University a year ago they found this condition by 
use of a thermometer. The thermometer in the room with the open- 
front indicated a higher temperature than in the room closed tight 
with glass windows. Anyone can test this point without the use of a 
thermometer. Go into one of the tight houses on a cold morning where 
your chickens have been on the roost over night, then step into a room 
where there is open front. Every time you will find that the room 



166 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

with the open front is warmer. If you want stock that is healthy and 
will bring returns, build a chicken house without glass windows. In 
an open-front house with a basement you have summer conditions as 
near as possible for poultry the year around. We haul in some sand 
for the floor before we put up our building, then put in our posts. 
We plan an earth floor for the basement ; the floor above is of ordinary 
flooring, the cheapest we can get. Our poultry do not go out into the 
water at all. In the basement they wallow in the dust, dirt and sand 
regardless of what the weather is outside, and it does not affect their 
laying at all. In addition to this, if we want to keep our poultry in a 
good, healthy condition we must see that they have exercise. There 
is a great deal said about hopper feeding, that is, to keep your feed 
before the chickens all the time. This is a mistake. Chickens should 
get exercise by scratching. A man in our neighborhood who has a 
berry orchard scatters the feed along among the canes of the berry 
bushes, and the chickens work for the grain. Another man who has 
no berry bushes hauls some coarse gravel and spreads it out to six 
inches deep and the chicks scratch for it and get their exercise, another 
man who uses straw keeps the floor covered from four to six inches deep 
and lets the chicks scratch for grain. 

Virility of Eggs. 

We use a good many incubators. We took off 58 hatches 
and obesrved that there was a very low fertility and wondered what 
the matter was. This year we have about 30 pens of poultry and every 
egg as it is gathered is numbered so we will know where to trace it. 
When putting these eggs into a machine we came to some that tested 
clear, and we knew right where they came from. Then we inves- 
tigated and saw how to account for it. One time last year we found 
that practically all the eggs that tested clear came from one pen. I 
made an investigation and found that that pen happened to be the 
one in which we were carrying on another experiment without any 
scratching material for our poultry. We were hopper feeding, not 
thinking for the time of the effect it might have upon these eggs that 
we intended to use for incubation. To carry the test a little further 
in that pen we changed to scratching material, and inside of 20 days 
the test ran from 43 to 97 per cent of fertile eggs. That shows what 
effect exercise has upon the fertility of eggs. See that your poultry 
get their required exercise. 



POtTLTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 167 

Balanced Ration. 

Poultry should be fed a balanced ration. We generally let the 
chickens balance their own rations. They are peculiar in that respect. 
Put a flock of chickens into a granary where there are four or five vari- 
eties of grain and none of them will get sick. A hen will eat some corn, 
some barley, some oats and wheat. She balances her own ration. If 
one would be particular in balancing the rations of his animals, and 
even for himself, there would be much less sickness in the world. I am 
a great believer in a balanced ration all along the line. I believe 
chickens require a balanced ration just the same as I believe our fruit 
trees require a balanced fertilization. Unless they get it they will 
have disease; they will be weak and lack vitality. Give them corn, 
oats, wheat and other grain that make a variety. 

I was in British Columbia a few years ago. There was an insti- 
tute being held at a town there. It was at the four corners, and the 
merchant there, a shrewd business man, evidently doing well in his 
business, happened to be delegated to entertain me. • He said : 

"I have a bone to pick with you." 

I said: ''All right; let's have it." 

He said: ''Well, my chickens don't lay any eggs." 

I said : "I suppose I am to blame for it?" 

"Well," he said, "to a certain extent." 

"How do you figure that out?" 

"I read something you said about feeding chickens and I am feed- 
ing mine according to your directions and not getting an egg.^^ 

"Where are your chickens?" 

Variety of Feed. 

He said he was going to feed them then, so I went out with him. 
He had something like 300 in a room 20 feet square. There was no 
windows in the house at all. There was a door for the chicks to go 
out and in, but it was dark inside. In front of this house was a shed 
about the same size. I tried to diagnose his case. I looked inside 
the house. It was furnished with the old-fashioned manner of 
fixed perches, commencing way down and ending way up, all on a 
slant like a stairway. The poultry would all fight for the upper 
perch, and I am sure I am not far off when I say that the house had 
not been cleaned out for three years. I watched him feed his chickens. 
He took an ordinary scoop and scooped out oats from a barrel and just 
literally covered the ground, which was entirely free from scratching 
material. The chicks picked up a little, then tried to see if they could 



168 APPLE GROWING IX THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

not find something else ; they did not seem to be ravenously hungry. 
There was not a drop of water anywhere. 

Finally w^e brought up at the store. I said: "Now I w^ill have 
something to say to you. I have got a bone to pick with you. T 
thought you followed the directions that I gave." 
"Yes, I did." 

"How do 3^ou make that out? What were those directions?" 
"You said feed the chickens corn, w^heat and oats; give them 
a variety." 

"Yes, that is right. I would like to see you do it." 
"Well, when that barrel of oats is gone I throw them some wheat." 
Never attempt to feed wheat, corn or oats straight. Mix the dif- 
ferent grains and put them in the litter. Keep some dry bran in a 
hopper, some beef scraps, shells and ground bone. If one has a dairy, 
milk can be used as a substitute for beef scraps. By keeping a variety 
before the fowls they will lay more eggs than if they are fed oats one 
month, wheat another and corn another. Do not forget that. The 
cheapest food that one can buy for his chickens is the one kind that 
will make them produce eggs. One wants eggs at the right season of 
the year to make money out of poultry, when they will bring a good 
price, and there is no reason why one should not have them at that 
time in this country. 

System in the Work. 

To do that one must adopt a system. How few people have a 
system in their poultry work? They say they can hatch chickens 
early; but what is early? There is just as much difference in this as 
in the man's idea about mixing the grain. At the experiment station 
I find that people are getting a little wiser along this line of work. 
They all want early chicks. One correspondent writes in and 
wants chickens between the first and middle of May. Another thinks 
an early chicken means in February. One must have early chickens 
to get fall and winter layers. Chickens hatched in February might 
do worse than those hatched in May. We find that April hatched 
pullets of the Leghorn breed will begin laying in Septemebr and they 
will lay continuously^ if properly housed and cared for, until molting 
season the next year. We have a flock of pullets at the station of the 
White Leghorn variety that were hatched on the 6th day of November 
last year. The first pullet laid her first egg on the 20th day of June. 
There were 83 pullets and they were practically all laying by the time 
they were five months of age. At that age we culled out 23 pullets. 
That left us 60 that were laying by the time they Avere five months old. 



POULTRY IX AX APPLE ORCHARD 169 

The 60 pullets before they were nine months of age laid an average 
of 42 eggs each. At the price of eggs at the time these were laid they 
would pay for their feed bill up to the time they were a year and a half 
old. This flock of pullets laid until the last daj's of October, then they 
were molting for about two months. They have since got to laying in. 
good shape and the eggs from the first of January to the first of No- 
vember next will be our profit from that flock of pullets. This is an 
instance which simply required a system. These pullets were from a 
flock that had been developed for their laying qualities. When we 
use eggs this year for our incubators the culled pullets' eggs will not 
be used at all. We will only select eggs from birds that laid by the 
time they were five months of age. Practically all birds that lay at 
that age are well matured. They are the largest and best appearing 
birds in every way. 

I am often asked how to select these pullets. That should be done 
when they are five months old. Do not wait until they are six months. 
We did not get an egg for six weeks from the 23 pullets we culled. 
We do not use the trap nest. By mingling with the poultry one will 
become acquainted with his flocks, and it is not a difficult thing to 
select culls at the age of five months. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. At what age do these pullets become unprofitable as layers? 

A. Under our system we do not attempt to carry any hens over 
beyond their pullet year, except those we desire to use in the breeding 
pens. When a pullet that is hatchd in April is 18 months of age sne 
will have laid something like 12 or 13 months, whereas the pullet or 
the hen that is carried through the molting period will lay only eight 
or nine months. To do her best she cannot lay to exceed that, so it is 
more profitable to do business with pullets. When possible, we advise 
the use of the two-year-old hen in a breeding pen. Do not make the 
mistake of using immature birds in the breeding pen. 

Renewing the Stock. 

Q. What do you do with these 18-months-old birds? 

A. Dispose of all that we do not want for the market, and have 
a flock of pullets on hand to take their place, that have been hatched 
at a time so that when these enter the molt the new flock will be right 
on hand to take their place, so as to get a continuous supply of eggs. 
Do not undertake to hatch the Pljanouth Rock, or the Rhode Island 
Red, or the Orpington in April and expect to accomplish that thing, 



170 APPLE GROWIXG IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

because it cannot be done. If one is doing business with any of these 
breeds belonging to the American class, he should do his hatching at 
an earlier period, say for instance, not later than the first of April. 
We prefer from the middle of February to the middle of March for 
these large breeds, and the objection in years gone by, the difficulties 
in getting chickens hatched at that time because the hens would not 
become broody, is entirely overcome by the use of incubators. My 
business differs a little from the fancier. I am paid a salary for some- 
thing the fancier is not doing, consequently I am brought face to face 
with the fancier now and then. I was addressing an audience about 
the size of this at a banquet in a town where there was a good show. 
An Eastern judge complimented the birds very highly. He said he had 
judged all over the United States and that it was rarely that he 
had judged a show that compared with this one ; he was greatly 
surprised to find such high quality stock in the Northwest. There was 
one speaker after another. I had had a little quarrel with this asso- 
ciation before this. I am a member and we have our meetings and of 
course do not agree on everything. I was quite surprised to receive 
from the officials a season ticket to their show and six complimentaries. 
In addition to that I was invited to speak at the banquet. There 
w^ere speakers from California, many places in Oregon, British Co- 
lumbia and Idaho. I guess the leading fanciers of the country were 
there from the west coast. One would speak and throw a lot of 
bouquets at the management of the show, then another would do the 
same thing, until they began to feel pretty good. Finally the judge 
gave an expression of his judgment regarding the birds. "We were 
all glad to hear it. Then it happened to come my turn. I spoke and 
threw all the bouquets I had with me. I only had a few. Then all of 
a sudden I said: "Now, ladies and gentlemen, can't we talk about 
the serious side of poultry just a few minutes? As you are aware, 
I am representing a different line of work from that which you are 
engaged in," and I went on and told them how it was that 12 years 
ago I found our state was paying out $300,000 for poultry and products 
per year, and last year we paid out over $4,000,000. Twelve years ago 
there were three little struggling poultry associations in the state. At 
present nearly every county in the state has a flourishing association, 
and the demand for eggs is greater, and eggs are higher and higher 
year after year. Why is it that the poultry associations cannot relieve 
the situation? The sooner these associations realize that they are not 
together the better. We all like your birds and want to encour- 
age you all we can in ycur work, but you must not forget 
that there is one thing you are neglecting in the Northwest." "I 



POULTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 171 

would like to know what that is," said the president of the association. 
''You are not teaching the people how to make a living with poultry; 
that is my business and I know you are not doing it." "We are." 
"Well, you will have to prove it." Then he began to get a little 
exasperated and said: "It seems to me we have had enough of this 
kind of talk. Mr. Blanchard came here and is pitching right into us, 
and I for one, would like to have him take his seat." I said I would 
apologize for anything that I had said that was wrong, but I could 
prove anything I had said, and I believed the audience agreed with 
me, but if there was anyone person who objected to my speaking I 
would take my seat, so I took it. Then the president got up and 
literally skinned me. I sat there and had nothing more to say. He 
accused us of most of all the sins and of trying to destroy the work of 
the associations for the last 12 or 15 years by encouraging the mixing 
of breeds in order to get a greater egg production. He left the impres- 
sion that we were favoring that policy. Then the toastmaster, who was 
a prominent attorney in the town, came to my rescue and explained 
matters, and notwithstanding the statement of the president that we 
must have no more of this talk, they would not talk of anything else 
for two hours, and the result was I got a chance to make an explan- 
ation to them that this was all wrong, because I candidly believed that 
the greatest number of eggs are going to be laid by the pure-bred bird, 
and I believed it was our duty to develop the pure breeds in the North- 
west. I admit that one can cross two breeds and often get superior 
layers, but there are objections to doing that, serious objections that 
one does not encounter if he uses pure breeds. After the banquet this 
man came to me and apologized. We have a right to claim a part of 
this large amount of money that is sent abroad to the farmers of the 
Middle West and other places, and here is a business right at our 
fingers' ends, just waiting development. There is money to be made. 
There are millions of dollars being sent out of our state to which the 
farmers and producers are entitled. 

Keep One Breed. 

Q. Do you advise one breed for a big orchard? 

A. Yes, keep the pure breed. It depends upon the extent of the 
poultry business. If one goes into the business and uses poultry as an 
adjunct to his orchard, chiefly for eggs, from an economical standpoint 
I would favor ong breed. 

Q. How deep do you dig the basement? 

A. Not less than four feet; preferably six or six and one-half. 

Q. How is it drained? 



172 APPLE GHOWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. We like to build where the drainage is natural. 

Q. How high is the depth from the first story? 

A. The front wall is 7 feet, the back wall is 5 feet. 

Q. How do you like the Corning system, about 1500 in one build- 
ing? 

A. That method is all right, but our experience is that in this 
country we get a larger profit per fowl in small flocks. 

Q. What is the best method to keep a hen from setting? 

A. Do business with a non-setter. There are certain breeds that 
rarely want to set. If one has the other breeds, he must have a good 
stock of patience. The main point is not to permit the broody hen 
to remain on the next over night. Our nests are so constructed that 
when the eggs are gathered every evening they are closed up. We have 
a little prison for them where there are no roosts nor nesting ma- 
terial, and where they can be fed just as regularly as though they 
were not broody. We find that, except perhaps in midsummer, it is 
not at all difficult to break up the broody hen if prevented in some 
way from remaining on the nest over night. If allowed to remain on 
the nest one night there will be trouble, two nights, lots of trouble. 

Incubation. 

Can as strong chickens be hatched in an incubator as with 



Q 

a hen? 
A 

Q 

A 

Q 

A 



Yes. 

What percentage? 

Last year out of -l-l hatches we averaged 881/2. 

AVhat incubator do you use? 

An Eastern make, capacity 240. We tried it last year in a 
basement where conditions were very favorable. We tried this mois- 
ture machine alongside of a different kind, making the conditions 
to suit the latter, to determine the moisture needed for artifical in- 
cubation. At the same time we set three or four hens, making their 
nests on the ground. We noticed that the hens that steal their nests 
generally bring in the best hatches. The moisture machine was all 
through its hatching when the other machine and the hens were begin- 
ning their hatch. The chickens weighed more, and there was a larger 
percentage of hatch. By comparing one could readily see the differ- 
ence in the flocks. Dead chicks in the shell is the great bugbear of 
artificial incubation. It is maintained that this is due to lack of 
moisture. The second machine brought off just as good a percentage 
of hatch, but one could tell the difference in the chickens. 



'; POULTRY IN AN APPLE ORCHARD 173 

Brooding. 

Q. Have 3^011 tried brooding without artifical heat? 

A, To some extent successful. There is no question in my mind 
but what this can be intelligently done. One must exercise a good 
deal of common sense. One can brood chickens here in the country 
where it is damp and chilly, but whether it is the best way is another 
question. I would not attempt it in this country unless the brooders 
are heated and the chickens allowed to run out in the daytime. 
A lady called me up the other day and said she had some two-weeks- 
old chickens and not one of them could walk straight. The trouble 
was she had them in the kitchen and was giving them all the corn 
meal and such feed they could eat. They had no exercise and their 
feed was making them weak. The remedy was to give these chicks 
more space and put in more sand for them to live on, and moisten 
it a little once in a while and mix the food in. Do not feed chicks 
until the third day. A man in Montana who heard that we were dis- 
posing of day-old chicks wrote asking if it would be safe to ship 
them that distance. I told him I would like to make the experiment, 
and if he would send in the order I would make the shipment, and 
he did not nee^ to pay for anything he did not get. I thought he 
would order 50. Instead he ordered 1000. We hatched out a thous- 
and, and, to make good for those that might drop out on the way, I 
put in 46, or a total of 1046. I asked if he Avould please report what 
condition they were in. When he wrote he said: ''One died on the 
way." These chicks were four days old without drink or food. 
Have you ever killed a chick hatched by a hen at the expiration of 
the first day and noted what she has been feeding it? You will find 
very little in its crop but sand, rock or grit. A hen is not in a hurry 
to take a chicken off the nest. Many times it will be the third day. 
We get some of these lessons very naturally. The first feed we give 
our young chickens when we hatch them in the incubator is sand and 
drink. Give pure water. If you wish you can mix in sand and some 
hard-boiled eggs, or some bread crumbs or something of that kind, but 
be sure they get sand and they will escape many diseases. 

Colony Houses. 

Q. Do you recommend colony houses in an orchard ? 

A. I would haye the houses distributed a few hundred feet apart. 
It depends somewhat upon the breed of chickens one keeps in a 
house as to whether or not the flocks should be fenced off. If the 



174 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

coops are arranged 200 or 300 feet apart there will not be much 
mixing. 

Q. What do you think of the Philo system? 

A. It is all right. Whether it is practical, you must decide. 
Philo is an experienced poultryman, and what he can do with poultry 
perhaps you cannot. I might take his system and become disappointed. 
I do not think it is practical in an orchard. 

Q. What was the average record of your 250 hens? 

A. One hundred and seventy-seven eggs. 

Q. How much land have you? 

A. The land the building sets on. Our building is 130 feet long. 
We have it divided into eight rooms, leaving a feed room ten feet wide. 
The roosting rooms are 15 feet. There are 130 feet on either side of 
the building, a runway for each flock 20x50. 

Q. What was the cost of feed per year? 

A. For 18 months it was a little under $2. 

Q. Wliat was the cost of raising them until 12 months old? 

A. Under our system we have a hatch of chickens, say 100. We 
-conclude that one-half of them are going to be cockerels and manage 
our business in such a way that when these cockerels are disposed of 
in the market the proceeds from them will have paid the feed bill of 
the pullets up to the time they commence laying, at about 5 months of 
^ge. 

Q. When would you sell the Leghorn cockerels? 

A. At 8 weeks of age. 

Q. What do you get? 

A. One can often get from 25 to 35 cents per pound. They will 
v/eigh one and one-half pounds at 8 weeks. 

Q. Do you line breed? 

A. Yes. 

Line Breeding. 

Q. Line breeding is what? 

A. Line breeding is breeding from one family, just like the 
crowned heads of Europe. Take the pullets that you get from your 
pens that you now have and mate them to the male that you now have, 
then mate your hens with your cockerels from this year's hatch. Do 
not mate the cockerels of this year's hatch with the pullets. That is a 
mistake that is being made by many people. 

Q. How do you do the next year, the reverse? 

A. There is a system by which to avoid what is called inbreeding, 
yet you keep breeding in line continuously. In mating your fowls 



176 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



this year, if you mate up birds from the same flocks, you are making 
.a mistake. Some people can do that, but it requires skill. Some of 
the finest show birds in the country are secured in that way, but for 
utility purposes we do not attempt it. 

Q. What breed do you favor? 

A. White Leghorns, White Plymouth Rocks and Rhode Island 
Eeds. 




A Pair of Ortley Yearlings. 



Packing Apples 

Prof. Chas. A. Cole, of the Oregon Agricultural College. 

>*T>^Y talk tonight will be along the line of handling and packing 
vL^ apples, especially about packing apples. I have had quite a little 
experience in handling classes in packing and I know just what a 
person is up against when he attempts to demonstrate apple packing. 
In my packing schools I have one assistant to every ten students. It 
keeps us busy seeing to what they are doing. Apple packing is an 
art or science just as much as painting pictures. 

I have come to the conclusion that the Willamette Valley has the 
worst bunch of packers in the United States. In packing apples in 
boxes they do not seem to understand that they must pack one size 
of apples in one box and not put in everything in the orchard and try 
to work the small apples off. You get a little price for little apples. 

The price that you get for your product is going to depend on 
just how you put it on the market and the appearance of the box. 
You would never think of buying a box with finger prints on the side 
of it, or one that had little apples mixed in with big ones, or lacked 
half an inch of being full. You would not think of taking that box 
when you could get one packed as it ought to be. If we are going 
to put apples on the market and get a high price we must use the best 
methods. I have seen packs from all over the United States and 
Canada and it is interesting to study them. 

If you are going to put up a first class pack you must have first 
class equipment. When I say first class equipment for packing apples, 
this does not begin at the packing house. It begins in the orchard 
with the pickers. If you get a bunch of careless pickers that throw 
the apples around and bruise them, when they come into the packing 
house, it matters not how expert your packers are, thej cannot put up 
a respectable looking box. If the apples are bruised they are going 
to show. Bruises will show on the Newtown Pippin in a very few 
hours. If you do not have a good packing crew and the proper 
equipment you cannot expect to get first class returns. 

I will have some slides a little later showing some of the pack- 
ing apparatus and the method of hauling apples into the packing 
shed. 

First you want a good ladder, a light ladder that you can move 
around the tree. You want some picking buckets that a man can 



PACKING APPLES 179 

handle. You do not want one that will hold half a bushel or a gallon. 
I use a three-gallon pail. You want to use a good substantial tin 
pail, a solid one with a hook on the bale that you can hang onto the 
branch. You want an orchard box that this bucket will fit down 
into. You want to prevent the apples from bouncing around on 
each other and you can't if you use a wide mouthed bucket that can't 
be lowered down into the box and emptied by placing one hand over 
the mouth, turning the bucket over on its side and allowing the apples 
to roll out gently. 

"We do not recommend patent pickers. Some of these pickers 
reach up and scratch off the apples. You don't want to use bags, 
bottomless or any other kind. When you get down to picking apples 
you have to be content with putting them in by hand. You need a 
good wagon, a wagon that is broad. Leave your packing boxes in the 
packing shed and use your field boxes. I nail a cleat on my field box 
and saw a hand hole in the side. This cleat has a special purpose. 
When the field box is set on top of another this cleat prevents mashing 
the apples. When one box sets down on top of the other the circula- 
tion of air is cut off, and where the air can't circulate the fruit is going 
to ripen up rapidly, so this cleat also affords good ventilation. 

It is necessary to have a first class packing shed. There are very 
few in the state. A great many of the fruit growing sections have 
been developed by men who put every cent they had into 30 or 40 
acres of land and were not able to build packing sheds. They depend 
on a barn in which to pack their apples. If you go over the various 
orchards you will find that these old sheds are beginning to disappear, 
and modern houses taking their places. In packing apples if the cold 
weather sets in, even two or three degrees above freezing, it will be 
necessary to have the packers protected from the cold, as it is slow 
work packing with cold fingers. You also want a house that can be 
ventilated, or one you can keep cool during the warm weather. When 
it gets late in the season you can't see to pack apples in the early 
morning or in the late afternoon. If possible you should light the 
packing house with electric lights. This will insure better packs and 
longer hours. About the location. It should be located close to the 
railroad or right on the railroad if one runs through your place. If 
not, close to a public road. Some are so fortunately located that 
they can put the packing house in the middle of the field. Some have 
to go nearly a quarter of a mile to get to the packing house. 

In equipping a packing house the first thing we look for, of course, 
is a machine for making boxes. I just use a common table with cleats 
nailed on the top of it. You can buy a box machine. A great many 
are used in California. I use a common table with a couple of cleats 



180 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

nailed on it. If I am using the California special, I put on the outside 
cleats so they measure 22 inches and put the ends of the boxes up 
against the inside of these cleats, and then nail cleats on the inside 
of the ends. This leaves a groove to hold one end of the box. Nail 
on a side using four nails. Turn the box over and nail the bottom 
on. It is necessary to hold the box steady while driving these nails 
in. I use a stripper. This is a piece of tin built up in the shape of a 
box with little grooves cut in it. It is fastened on to a carrying box. 
It looks like a wooden suit case and can be carried around with you. 
I got this from Hamilton & Co., of California. The price is $10.00. 
The fellows who have used it in factories say you pay for it in two 
days' work in the time you save. 

I suppose there are more arguments over the packing table than 
any other one thing. I was demonstrating a packing table at the 
Apple Show at Spokane year before last and some said that method 
was as old as Noah's Ark. Some say you want to pack apples right 
out of the orchard boxes. They pack right into the other boxes with- 
out grading or sorting. If you have ever tried to put up a box of 
apples out of one bushel you will know how uniform they get the 
pack. It takes 8 bushels to put up one box of one size. I have seen 
people pack a box out of a bushel. You can't do that and get your 
apples uniform. I am going to- use a packing table until they show 
me something better. What I mean by a packing table is just a 
common table. I make one for my own use low enough so I won't 
hit the boxes w^hen I am working. This table is about 30x40 inches at 
the top. I seldom make them square. 

Directions for Making a Packing Table. 

As I said before, I would build the table so that the top wnll 
measure 30x40 inches, and at such a height that one packer can just 
touch the bottom of the box with the tips of the fingers w^hen setting 
on the rack without having to bend over. The material necessary for 
this table will be four planks one inch thick and seven inches wide. 
The planks for the side will be 40 inches long, for the front 30 inches 
and the back 54 inches. The plank for the back extends out one foot 
on each side, making a part of the box rack. Now take four 2x4s for 
the legs. These should be cut so that when the table is put together 
there will be no sharp corners sticking out to bruise the fruit. Now 
put this framework together. Cut another plank of the same width 
and length of that used for the back of the table. This plank goes, 
through under the table to form the remainder of the box rack, and 
should be placed so that when an Oregon Standard box is placed on 



PACKING APPLES 181 

the rack the lower end will come to the center of it. This gives the 
box a slope towards the packer so that when he places an apple it will 
hot roll. NoAV put on the top. I use common burlap, the kind that is 
used to wrap furniture. This can be had from furnishing stores for 
about 7 cents per pound. Tack on the burlap so that there is not over 
one inch sag. If given much more slack than this it will hit the board 
that forms part of the box rack as soon as a load of apples is put on. 
If possible I nail a piece of old garden hose around the top to protect 
the fruit from the edges of the planks. Be sure and brace the legs of 
the table so there will be no danger of a breakdown. This table will 
accommodate two packers. 

We are now ready to begin on the apple packing. I use two types 
of boxes, one Oregon Standard and the California Special, the dimen- 
sions of which are given in the "Table of Commercial Packs." These 
boxes are wider than they are deep. Many people get it just the re- 
verse. These are the two sizes of boxes we use in the packing house, 
and they are used in the Hood Kiver Valley exclusivly, in this valley 
some and in the Rogue River Valley to some extent. Most people 
there use the California Special, which measures a little different from 
this. Some run 22 inches and 9l^ inches deep. They do not like the 
Oregon box, I don't know why. Besides your two size boxes you 
want two sizes of lining paper, two sheets to line each box, and two 
sizes of layer paper and one size wrapping paper. This completes 
your equipment unless you want a complete set of stamps. I buy my 
stamps made separately. I made a rack to hold the stamps and 
stamp the numl)er right over each stamp so I can reach in and pick 
up a stamp without stopping to look at it. I have a stamp for the 
name of the apple and for the tier. 

No first class apple packer would ever think of packing apples 
until they have been graded, wiped and culled. Some tell me this is 
useless. If you just stop and think you will see it is impossible to put 
up a good box of apples out of a lot that has never been graded or 
culled. If yofur apples were all the same size without a worm hole 
or a San Jose scale, or a bruise of any kind you could do this. They 
are graded into extra fancy and orchard run. We might call them 
first and second. Grade them to two or three sizes. If you grade 
them down to nearly the proper size of packing it will take too many 
boxes. Put all 4y2-tier and smaller in one box and all larger than 
41/2-tier in another box so that the packers wont have to do so much 
assorting when packing. If you put- too many sizes on the table the 
packers will bruise them in assorting. The advantage the table has 
over the box is that it has a large surface and gives you a large num- 
ber of apples to select from and you can put up a uniform pack. In 



182 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

culling you should only put the apples without a blemish on them in 
the fancy stock. You don't want any wormy or scabby apples in the 
second. In wiping the apples you want to wear gloves — just canvas 
gloves. Get them with the woolly side out. 

I have one or two slides showing my packing school and the ap- 
paratus that we use. I want to show you what a packer has to learn 
to put up before he is an expert. Four weeks is a short time to teach 
apple packing. It takes years of experience to make a good apple 
packer. I have a friend that packed two or three seasons. He packed 
nine boxes the first day and by the end of the season 45. If a man 
packs 50 a day it is a good day's work. Some pack as high as 80 or 
100 boxes a day. They pack so fast they could not see whether there 
was a worm hole in an apple or not. Everything goes. 

Table of Commercial Apple Packs. 











No. apples 


No. rows 


No. layers 


Apples 


Box 


Tier 


Pack 


in row 


in width 


in depth 


in box 


Stan. 


..3 


Str. 


3 


5-5 


3 


3 


45 


Spec. 


..3 


Str. 


3 


6-6 


3 


3 


54 


Spec. 


..3 


Str. 


3 


7-7 


3 


3 


63 


Stan. 


..31/0 


Dia. 


2-2 


4-4 


31/2 


4 


64 


Stan. 


..3 


Dia. 


2-2 


4-5 


31/2 


4 


72 


Stan. 


..31/2 


Dia. 


2-2 


5-5 


31/2 


4 


80 


Stan. 


..31/2 


Dia. 


2-2 


5-6 


31/2 


4 


88 


Spec. 


..3 


Dia. 


2-2 


6-6 


31/2 


4 


96 


Spec. 


..31/2 


Dia. 


2-2 


6-7 


31/2 


4 


104 


Spec. 


..31/2 


Dia. 


2-2 


7-7 


31/2 


4 


112 


Spec. 


..31/2 


Dia. 


2-2 


7-8 


31/2 


4 


120 


Spec. 


..4 


Str. 


4 


8-8 


4 


4 


128 


Spec. 


..4 


Str. 


4 


9-9 


4 


4 


144 


Stan. 


..41/2 


Dia. 


3-2 


6-6 


41/2 


5 


150 


Stan. 


..41/2 


Dia. 


3-3 


6-7 


41/2 


5 


163 


Stan. 


..41/2 


Dia. 


3-2 


7-7 


41/2 


5 


175 


Spec. 


..41/2 


Dia. 


3-2 


7-8 


41/2 


5 


185 


Spec. 


..41/2 


Dia. 


3-2 


8-8 


41/2 


5 


200 



When a standard box is used 96 and 112 are packed four tier, and 
200 will pack five tier. 

96, 104, 112 and 120 may be classed as four tier apples, and 185 
and 200 as five tier. 

128 size long Spitz and Ben Davis may be packed 125 to the box. 



PACKING APPLES 183 

Flat apples like the Wagener may be packed four tier by placing all 
on the side. 

Sizes of boxes: Oregon Standard 101/2x111^x18 inches. Cali- 
fornia Special 10x11x20 inches, inside measurement. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Do you think apples are packed better if allowed to sweat 
two or three days before packing? 

A. No, I do not think so. I have never noticed any difference 
in apples that came direct from the packing house. An apple will not 
get crisp in two or three days. 

Q. Do you pack every apple diagonally? 

A. Tou can come pretty near it. You can pack 155 and get a 
diagonal pack, 

Q. How about apples like the Red Cheeked Pippins that are high 
on one side and flat on the other? 

A. You can pack out a bulge by turning the apples. 

Q. Is the Ben Davis a profitable apple? 

A. Some people say it is. It makes a good apple to grow for 
five years then graft. A great many people say they make their 
money on Ben Davis stock, but they get a very small price for it. 

Q. What do you think of the Northern Spy? 

A. It is a fine apple. It is one of my favorite apples for eating. 
It is an apple the Easterners say reminds them of home. 

Q. Is a tree pruned the same the first four years as the years 
following? 

A. When I set out a tree I prune it for three years, then I slack 
up on it and allow it to form some fruit spurs. Do summer and win- 
ter pruning from the time the tree is set out. I always prune a bear- 
ing tree during the summer. Summer pruning should be done in July, 
then you do not get water sprouts as you do in the winter. 

Q. Do they raise Ehode Island Greenings here? 

A. Yes, but the Easterners do not recognize them. We grow 
Rhode Island and Northwest Greenings, but they do not taste like the 
Greenings in the East. I have seen them with red cheeks out here 
instead of green as in the East. 

Q. Would you hesitate grafting a tree ten years old ? 

A. There are three systems of grafting. The cleft, bark grafting 
and making a cut in the edge of the stub. Some object to cleft graft- 
ing as they say that the cleft offers a good opportunity for disease to 
get a hold. 

Q. Do you have any success in grafting an old root? 

A. If you want to do root grafting you should use but one year 
old roots. 

Q. For young roots do you prefer the grafted or the budded? 

A. I should prefer budded. 




Orchard near Sihertoii, Oregon, in the Willamette Valley. 

Organization for Marketing Apples 

Homer C. Atwell, President of the Oregon State Horticultural Society. 

XN presenting this topic to you, I am troubled with the fear that 
you may have been led, through a recent item in the press, to 
expect that I intend to deliver here a formal address. The press 
notice alluded to was kind enough to say that I would deliver here the 
same address that I am expected later to deliver in the State of Wash- 
ington, and that I had been preparing it with great care. Perhaps I 
should be tempted to follow my journalistic friend's hint, if I had that 
address prepared. However, as it is yet to be evolved from my inner 
consciousness, I shall be content to rest on Mr. French's injunction 
to make my effort strictly an informal talk, as "The club won't tol- 
erate a formal address." 

With this preface, I will return to the main question, Who will 
eat your apples? You can't do it yourselves. Portland can't do it. 
The Pacific Northwest can't do it. Apple growing has now passed 
beyond the sentimental and aesthetic stages, and has evolved into a 
vast productive industry, demanding development along commercial 
lines. 

The apple industry, like every other, has two phases, production 
and distribution. Discussion groups around these two main topics — 
how to grow apples and how to dispose of them. 

Growing apples involves consideration of such topics as location, 
soil, planting, pruning, cultivation and spraying — important, certainly 
and vital to success. They are, however, in a sense, elementary — 
questions for the agricultural colleges, for the farmers' institutes — • 
questions frir solution of which we turn to our professors and horticul- 



ORGA^"IZATIOX FOR MARKETIXG APPLES 185 

tiiral experts, and to the books. Their principles are old and well 
tried out. Thej^ are, nevertheless, new and always interesting, be- 
cause varied conditions of various districts require discriminating 
application of these principles, readjustments to changed conditions. 
These questions are, as I have said, cpiestions for the student, prob- 
lems for the producer to M^ork out in his own environment, in his own 
orchard, with factors under his own management. He is master of 
his own workshop and of his own tools. Results are under his own 
control. 

When, however, you have grown your perfect apples, and have 
them properly packed, your work is done. You stand helpless 
before the next problem. Upon its solution depends return for all 
your past labor and study. Before this problem, your teachers also 
are helpless. The colleges can't solve it. The books are unresponsive. 
What will you do with your well-packed box of fine apples? That 
is the new problem, the problem of distribution. This may not be 
quite so interesting as how to train a tree in the way it should grow, 
nor quite so fascinating as ''lime-sulphur spray in combination Avith 
lead arsenates." I think, hoAvever, you will agree with me that it is 
quite as important to the man who grows apples. 

The time has passed when apple growers of the Pacific Northwest 
can depend on local markets. Much less shall we be able to do so, 
when we produce annually 100,000 cars of apples, as President Elliott, 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad predicts we shall do, in the near future. 

We must rely on interstate and foreign markets. At that point 
we approach a problem not in the books we have been studying, one 
that is outside the producer's sphere and means of control. It is the 
problem of distribution. 

You and I are producers. Production and distribution are distinct 
processes of economic activity, and are worked out by different sets 
of actors. However, although they are distinct, and although pro- 
ducers cannot directly control processes of distribution, they may 
largely influence them, by organization for that purpose. 

Before developing this idea further, let us take a brief survey of 
the machinery of distribution, as it applies to sale of oin- apples. Let 
us assume, for example, that Ave are an apple-shipping association, 
located in the Willamette Valley. We shall, of course, make estimate, 
in advance of packing, of probable number of cars we shall have to 
ship. We shall endeavor to make our sales on the basis f. o. b. hero. 
This means, of course, acceptance at stipulated price, at shipping point, 
subject to condition that goods, upon arrival, shall conform to repre- 
sentations. We solicit Eastern dealers for orders. We quote them 
prices, grades and sizes. Market is dull. Buyers are indifferent. 



186 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

Meanwhile apple packing time arrives. We soon pack and ship out 
enough cars to fill our orders, and still have the bulk of our product 
unsold. We are no longer able to effect sales f. o. b. This is especially 
the case when Eastern markets are crowded, or business conditions 
depressed. We must, nevertheless, continue to move our product for- 
ward. Cars can't be had whenever wanted. When furnished, they 
must be filled. Another consideration impelling us to crowd shipment 
is lack of storage facilities at home. 

Independence of immediate market conditions is one of the prin- 
cipal objects to be sought by fruit-shipping organizations. This inde- 
pendence means prolonging our shipping season. It cannot be attained, 
however, without adequate storage facilities here. 

I notice by the press that the people of Hood Eiver, who, of course, 
are always on hand when there is any improvement to be made, are 
planning to extend their storage facilities, in order that they may not 
be compelled to hurry their fruit onto the market. 

To resume our illustration, let us say that we bill our car to 
Chicago. Before it has reached Cheyenne we learn that Chicago is 
overstocked, and w^e order the car diverted to Minneapolis or to 
Kansas City. We may again divert it to Atlanta or New York. All 
the time that car is rolling eastward we are keeping the wires hot to 
find the best market for it. The routing clerk in our office keeps 
close tab on that car. Just as the train dispatcher of a railroad can 
tell you at any moment between what two stations any train on his 
road is, so our routing clerk knows approximately the location of that 
car at all times. Until sale is finally'' effected, or point determined 
upon which our manager considers most promising, he is wiring to 
various sales agents description of that car, stating number of boxes, 
varieties, locality where grown, grade and number of apples in a box. 
This is expensive business, especially when a car contains 20 varieties 
of apples, as was occasionally the case during the past season. 

Suppose now, instead of one car, we are handling three cars a day. 
This would not be a large business. Let us assume Chicago to rep- 
resent average distance between Portland and various Eastern mar- 
kets. It takes eight days for a car to reach Chicago. Multiplying 
this number of days by three, you have 24 cars in transit all the time 
during the shipping season. All the time our manager is telegraphing 
over the country regarding each of these cars. Our routing clerk is all 
the time changing position of pegs on his routing map. 

This brief outline of the activities of one small shipping associa- 
tion, such as will naturally grow up at a score of towns in the 
Willamette Valley, indicates the complexity and expense of apple 
marketing, and also the high degree of skill and judgment required. 

• 



ORGANIZATION FOR MARKETING APPLES 187 

Perhaps you now appreciate more clearly the force of my statement 
of a few months ago that production and distribution are distinct 
processes of economic activity. 

However, the producer should know something of the processes 
of distribution, in order better to adapt his own operations to their 
requirements, and in order to contribute, through organization of pro- 
ducers, to make distribution more effective. 

Assuming that I have satisfied you that marketing on large scale 
and under modern conditions is not for the individual, let us consider 
how large should be the scope of such shipping organizations, in order 
to effect best results. I will lay down the proposition right here that 
it should be as large as possible, should control the output of as many 
growers as possible. We will work up to demonstration of that 
proposition. 

It is a conservative estimate that at the present time there are 50 
individuals, companies and associations, shipping apples from the 
Pacific Northwest. Each of these has the same experience I have 
outlined. Each incurs the same items of expense for acquiring infor- 
mation. They not only duplicate one another's expense account, but 
each adds to expense of the others. Shippers A, B and C have over- 
stocked Omaha. Shippers D, E and F have no means of finding this 
out except by independent expenditures for telegrams. 

These independent shipping operations not only cause great dup- 
lication of expense but unavoidable glutting of many markets. This 
cannot be avoided altogether by any amount of expense for telegrams, 
as a market that is promising today may receive cars from half a 
hundred shipping associations tonight. 

Our present unorganized distribution also often leads to ignoring 
some markets altogether. In the United States there are 180 cities of 
over 25,000 population each. Greater consuming ability of leading 
cities causes tendency of shippers to concentrate their offerings there. 
It is generally admitted that, in the rush to supply greater markets, 
many lesser ones are altogether overlooked. These, in the aggregate, 
have capacity for consumption of large output. 

You will observe that I have thus far touched only on attempts 
to supply existing markets, markets where demand is already well 
defined. These, if evenly supplied, would in the past have absorbed 
most, if not all, our output. Prospective increase of population, how- 
ever, will necessitate opening of new outlets, development of demand 
now dormant. These are avenues which are closed to your average 
shipping association, t)ecause it lacks sufficient financial backing. It 
can't afford to pay from $5,000 to $10,000 a year to a manager who 
has intimate knowledge of the world's market and of international 



ORGANIZATION FOR MARKETING APPLES 189 

trade relations. It can't afford an expenditure of $50,000 a year to 
advertise and exploit our product in lands heretofore unsiipplied, 
or inadequate!}^ supplied with apples such as we produce. 

Thus you see that our present system of independent shipping 
not only results in duplicated expenses, glutting of large markets, 
and overlooking of small markets, but also proves inadequate to the 
expansion of markets which our increasing output demands. 

Were these 50 individual and corporate shipping concerns amal- 
gamated under one management, results would be quite different. We 
would then save many thousand dollars in expenses now entailed 
through duplication of effort, and yet would be able to pay our man- 
ager and Eastern salesmen salaries that would command the best 
talent and experience in the country. Levying a trifling toll on all 
output would give our association a fund that would enable it suc- 
cessfully to storm many a market now unavailable. Glutting of larger 
markets would be prevented. Smaller markets would be supplied as 
thoroughly as larger ones. This fact alone would largely increase 
demand. Demand, however, would be greatly stimulated by lower 
price to consumer, caused by elimination of superfluous agents, and 
by use of other means of cheapening distributive methods. There is 
no economic fact better established than that price affects consumption. 
The cheaper a staple article is, the more it is in demand. 

The great bulk of the apple output must be consumed by the 
common people. Their capacity of consumption is tremendous. We 
should see that that capacity is kept at its maximum proportion by 
placing our product in their hands at a reasonable price. This would 
be possible under central control of distributive agencies. It is 
impossible, under present methods of competition and duplicating 
expense. Consumption would be further increased by rigid adher- 
ence to uniformity in grading and packing, by which confidence 
of buyer would be increased and popularity of our fruit enhanced. A 
central selling 'organization could maintain such uniformity. 

But, you may say, lower price to consumers will mean lower price 
to producers. Not at all. Organization such I advocate would increase 
average net financial returns to growers by steadying market condi- 
tion, by preventing losses and unremunerative sales, by eliminating 
wasteful methods of distribution. You maj^ divide, in any way you 
like, the amount realized from greater economies and greater efficiency. 
Any fair division will result in lower price to consumer and greater 
profit to producer. 

There is another way in which an organization controlling the 
output of the Pacific Northwest would result in great saving to grow- 
ers. It is in the matter of purchasing supplies for orchard use and for 



190 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

packing. Certainly a concern doing an annual business of $50,000,000 
should be able to secure wholesale prices. 

Large part of the fruitgrowers' associations of Pacific Northwest, 
as they are at present constituted, are worse than useless for effecting 
distribution on large scale. Better that the apples of a particular 
district should rot on the ground than that the entire industry should 
suffer from ill-timed and poorly-managed effort to force their sale. 
Weakness of these local associations lies in their lack of financial re- 
sources. They undertake to do what they have not, and never will 
have, facilities to accomplish. Elimination of selling function from 
scope of their activities will leave them free to attempt what is pos- 
sible. Strong local associations are absolutely necessary as pillars on 
which an organization for wide-scope distribution must stand. Their 
functions, however, must be developed along new lines. Capital and 
properly-paid local management will be the first requisites to be sup- 
plied. 

My ideas are not altogether original. I had the privilege of test- 
ing their soundness during the winter of last year, in southern Cali- 
fornia. There one must pay close to $2000 an acre for a good bearing 
orchard of oranges or lemons. This valuation is not based alone on 
climate. Basic factors of that valuation are strong local associations, 
with ample capital and competent management, and, over all, a cen- 
tral selling agency to whom an expenditure of $50,000 is a matter of 
small importance if it secures results. 

I have thus far touched upon the purely practical side of this 
question. There is another side quite as important. Economists and 
students of social problems agree that future welfare of our nation 
depends on arresting the current long drifting from country to city, 
a movement which is slowly draining our rural districts of their best 
manhood and womanhood, congesting our urban centers, increasing 
cost of living and consequent general discontent, and menacing our 
civilization with threat of various dire evils. 

It is our duty to encourage an opposite movement. Apple grow- 
ing affords the strongest lure to rural life. We should then bid 
godspeed to him who -lives under the shade of his own apple tree. 
We cannot, however, conscientiously extol a vocation which offers no 
hope of adequate financial return. 

Apple growing, like any other department of agriculture, must 
be made to pay, if our farming districts are to be filled with a con- 
tented and proud people. It is our duty to make it pay, by abandon- 
ing inefficient methods, and adopting those methods which the extent 
of our industry necessitates, and business sagacity dictates. 



ORGANIZATION FOR MARKETING APPLES 



191 



r 




Orchards on a Thousand Hills. 



Questions and Answers. 



Q. Will the opening of the Panama Canal cheapen freight rates? 

A. I think so. I have great faith in the future of the fruit in- 
dustry of this Pacific Northwest, especially in the districts contiguous 
to the coast, because of the promise there is in the opening of the 
Panama Canal. It will not only cheapen our freight rates to the East, 
but it will increase the length of our shipping season, provided we 
prepare for it by establishing sufficient storage facilities at this end. 
We hasten shipments now on account of approaching cold weather. 
Danger from that source would be eliminated by erecting adequate 
cold storage warehouses and by shipping over the canal route. 

Q. How would the production of apples have to be increased to 
sustain now a central organization? 

A. The production of apples in the Pacific Northwest would not 
have to be increased 'at all. If all individuals and shipping associa- 
tions now shipping apples from the Pacific Northwest would combine, 
or a large proportion of them, they would be able to do business at a 




'J'hoy speak I'm' tliemseh'L'S. 



ORGANIZATION FOR MARKKTING APPLKS 



195 



sufficiently small cost, so that a very trifling toll upon that business 
would give them all necessary funds for exploiting the industry and 
for building storehouses and warehouses. I have seen estimates of 
what 5 cents a box would accomplish on the output of the Northwest. 
J do not recall it now, but it would be a very large sum. I think that 
the apple output of the Pacific Northwest in the near future should 
reach as large proportions as the citrus output of California. 

Q. What is their output ? 

A. According to statistics compiled by the California Fruit 
Grower, a very careful and reliable publication, the output of that 
state for the season of 1909-10 was 33,099 cars. I have seen no esti- 
mate as to the value of this output, but I would say that $1,000 per 
car would not be far out of the way. This, you see, would make the 
total value something like $33,000,000. Year before that it was over 
$40,000,000. 

The California Fruit Growers' Exchange, to which I have before 
alluded, handles about 60 per cent of the total output of citrus fruit 
from that state. It does this at an expense to growers of not to 
exceed 3 per cent on gross sales. The amount thus realized enables 
the central association to employ an exploitation force of the highest 
business ability. They pay their manager $8,000 a year, and salaries 
to Eastern representatives in proportion. They have spent as much 
as $50,000 in one year in advertising their fruit. All their business 
is done on that scale, and yet you see the burden of maintaining that 
organization is verv light. 




An apijle packing house in the Hood River Valley, Oregon. 



194 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

Q. What per cent of the frnit of the Pacific Northwest is now 
handled by the fruit growers' associations? 

A. I am not positive on that subject. In the State of Wash- 
ington there are several very strong private shipping companies. I 
really ought not to make an estimate on that point. 

Q. Would private association join this central association? 

A. That is a large question and I have not gotten far enough 
along in the game to be able to answer it. Of course, I suppose you 
know that we are trying to build up such an organization in the 
Pacific Northwest? 

Q. What effect would the 100,000 carloads that you predict in 
the near future have on the market? How much reduction would 
there be in the price? Would apple raising still be profitable under 
that condition? 

A. Yes, I think so. The expectation is that, either this year or 
next, w^e shall effect the only desirable and only efficient means of 
disposing of this oncoming product — that is, a central selling agency. 
I think we shall have it. If I did not think so, I should not want to 
remain in the apple business. 

Q. Supposing this 100,000 carloads is duplicated in the Mis- 
sissippi Valley? 

A. They should adopt a central selling agency also. The same 
would be true of other extensive districts having large output. Two 
or three big organizations like that can work together, but a lot of 
little local organizations cannot. I do not think we need be haunted 
by the fear that the entire country Avill experience the same degree 
of expansion in apple-production that we expect in the Pacific North- 
west. There must be production of other commodities than apples. 
The result will be that each district will settle down to production of 
that for which it is btst adapted. 

Q. What is the boundary of the Pacific Northwest? 

A. Bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the north by 
British Columbia, and on the east, for the purpose of apple-production 
and apple-shipment, I will include Western Montana and the west 
slope of Colorado. I do not think the Pacific Northwest would include 
California. You probably know that the great bulk of the box apples 
of the country are produced in the Pacific Northwest. The boundaries 
I have mentioned, including also part of California, produce large 
quantities of apples and they box the most of them. If the people 
who put up apples in that form can combine they can control the box 
apple situation at present. 

Q. Are they not boxing their apples also in the East? 

A. They are to a small extent. 



ORGANIZATIOX FOR MARKETING APPLES 195 

Q. Are they not advocating that in the New England States? 
Is not apple culture growing rapidly in favor there, clearing up their 
old orchards? 

A. As far as clearing up their old orchards is concerned, that 
would not do them any good, their trees are so high up in the sky; 
but they are planting new orchards. That is true. There is quite 
a revival of apple-growing in various districts of New England, but 
not to the extent there is out here in this country. 

Q. There was an article in the Saturday Evening Post, not long 
ago, telling what they are doing there. 

A. Yes, that is true. I have the article at home. But referring 
to clearing up their orchards, perhaps I was a little hasty in jumping 
at your suggestion. The writer was not speaking so much of clearing 
up, as retopping. They may make them pay in that way. 

Q. If we should form this organization as you suggest, would 
there be danger of our being branded as a trust? 

A. I do not think so. I think that our courts have decided 
that an organization that is formed for the purpose of economizing in 
methods of distribution and making even distribution, and making 
lower prices to consumers (and that is what we would be doing; that 
is our only object) is no trust. 

Q. "Would it be possible for the association to sell the same as 
the Citrus Fruit Association, by auction? 

A. Well, there is a good deal more of it done now than should 
be done. It is done in Chicago, Minneapolis and other large centers. 
I saw that worked out in Chicago last summer, and I was surprised 
to see how fairly it was done. -Every morning in the week a large 
number of local dealers get together in an auction house. They first 
inspect the fruit, and then they go upstairs and wrangle there some- 
times until the middle of the afternoon, bidding on that fruit. If the 
market happens to be glutted, however, you see they are not going to 
bid very much. The auction houses are not desirable, if you can 
sell in any other way. The California Fruit Exchange sells both ways. 

Q. Would it be the design of the organization to sell direct? 

A. I would say that that would be a primary 'object. You can 
see yourself it would be more satisfactory to sell your product at a 
certain price than to send it back and not know what you are going 
to get. 

Q. What per cent do the growers expect to save through having 
an organization? 

A. There is a-wide variation ; all the way from 1 to 100 per cent. 

Q. Would it be the idea of this central association to maintain 
storage plants in the East or here? 



196 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 



A. My idea would be to erect storage plants here for the most 
part. It may be found desirable to have some storage plants in the 
East, but I think it Avould be better policy to hold the fruit here, 
as far as possible, until sold. When those Eastern dealers see thou- 
sands and thousands of cars of fruit on hand, it makes a great im- 
pression on them. They think apples ought to be cheap (to them). 

Q. If you had a central storage plant in the East, would you not 
be able to distribute there direct to the wholesaler instead of jobber? 

A. "Well, of course, having a storehouse in the East would give 
you that trade, especially if you wished to supply a wholesaler with 
less than carload lots. 




'£M&^^,i4a&nMj.MM-^-p> .v^'^d^s^m , iiiSi'Aiaaa 



The Columbia River from the Mosiei' View Orchards. 




The Mosier Hills district, Oregon. 



The Process of Charpitting 

H. W. Sparks, Washington State College, Pullman. 

About two years ago I commenced my duties as supervisor of farm 
demonstrations, this being a division of the farm extension work of 
the Washington State College. Later, in making a trip through the 
western part of the state to study its needs, I became interested in 
land-clearing problems, and thus was led to investigate everything 
which promised to aid in the solution of cheaper methods of clearing. 

I think that many persons have noticed in ''burnt over" areas, 
here and there a stump which had burned down into the ground. 
This was no accident. The roots were burned out because certain 
factors happened to be just right. When we learn what those factors 
are and duplicate them we also can burn a stump down into the 
ground. 

Two years ago. I learned of a man who had burned stumps, using 
what was locally called the "charcoal" method. I visited him, and 
sure enough, he was burning stumps. It seemed to be a very simple 
method. He put a little fuel around the stump, covered it over with a 



198 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

little soil, gave it a little attention every day and the stnmp was 
finally burned out, far down into the ground. 

Having mastered his method, as soon as I could I went out on 
farm institute work and told others how to do the work by that method. 
Later, in coming back over the same route, I learned that many persons 
who had tried this method had failed. I was therefore concerned 
to know the cause of their failure. Upon investigation I learned that 
failure in some instances was due to differences in the soil, others to 
improper understanding of the method and so on. 

It was encouraging, however, to find a few persons who had 
succeeded. We have been conducting experiments in different soils 
and with all the varied conditions and investigating the cause of 
failures. We now believe that many of the failures are due to soil 
conditions not being favorable; or if favorable, many of the opera- 
tors "cover" too deeply. We have been conducting some experiments 
in sandy and gravelly soil and have found that stumps can be burned 
out in the worst red sand soil down two or three feet with reasonable 
certainty. 

We remove a small portion of the surface soil next to the stump, 
then place the fuel in this shallow trench, covering it over with cinders 
or clay. With the same amount of care as is usually given, the stumps 
will burn out. By this method two of our operators fired 18 stumps 
in six hours, using a third man to haul the material to the ground. 
Of the 18, 15 were burning the next morning. Three had been put out 
by the rain. 

We have tried many experiments that have been failures. When 
we first learned that the usual method v^^ould not work well in sandy 
soil we tried artificial coverings, such as sheet iron, but that was a 
failure. We next tried mixing in other materials with the sandy soil. 
We thought we needed a ''soil binder" to hold the soil particles 
together, thus keeping them out of the fire. We tried lime, tar, and 
other things, which also failed. 

We then discovered that the difference in soils was not due so 
much to texture as to other characteristics, which were, principally, 
the conductivity or non-conductivity of the soil. The heat generated 
under the soil covering must not be lost, but rather, should be con- 
served and concentrated on that part of the stump that is to be burned. 
The soil that lies loosely has many air spaces, making it a good non- 
conductor of heat. Most of our clay soils when subjected to the 
heat of fire, decompose sufficiently to become light and porous. They 
concentrate the heat and do not conduct it away. The reason that 
some soils had failed to do the work well was that under the influence 
of heat the soil particles had settled together, becoming natural con- 



THE PROCESS OF CHARPITTING 199 

ductors of heat, and thus conducting the heat away from the stumps. 
Also, the absence of adhesive properties makes it difficult to hold the 
soil up or prevent it from running into the fire. 

There is another factor which we believe to be important. That 
is "radiated heat." A well-established rule of radiated heat is that 
the heat diminishes in intensity as the square of the distance from the 
radiating body increases. A body 10 feet from the fire will receive 
only one-hundredth part as much heat as a body one foot from the 
same fire. Radiated heat goes in straight lines, and the angle of re- 
flection is always equal to the angle of incidence. That is, if it strikes 
the reflecting surface perpendicularly it is reflected perpendicularly, 
and if the line in which it approaches the surface forms an angle it 
glances off at an equal angle on the other side. It is this last factor 
that makes for better results when we keep our fuel down to the least 
amount necessary for a good start, and is in favor of concentrated 
fuel, such as fuel oil. The cover being flatter the reflected heat i& 
returned to the burning stump lower down. And as wood is a natural 
absorbent of heat, this helps prepare for the burning. 

Let us illustrate this a little farther. Many persons doubtless^ 
have noticed while traveling through the woods after a fire, that 
Avhere one log had lain across another, or perhaps two logs had lain 
together for part of their length, burning had been more complete 
than at points where the logs had been farther apart. This was due 
to the radiation of heat from one log to another. An increase in the 
distance between the burning logs was marked by a decrease in the 
intensity of the fire. 

All these points are factors in the work of charcoaling stumps, 
and if we understand them it helps us to arrive at definite results. 
There is no accident about it. By the application of these principles 
we reverse the natural tendency of fire to burn up, and cause it to 
burn down into the roots, as has been proved in our experiments with 
hundreds of stumps. There is enough of this work done in different 
parts of the State of Washington, and by different people, to prove 
conclusively that it is practical and no longer an experiment. Near 
Chehalis, Harry Thompson and myself fired 100 stumps. We tended 
them, and charged 25 cents an hour for the time we worked. The 
stumps were removed in this way for less than 40 cents each. Harry 
Yount, of Woodland, Wash., removed stumps for about 35 cents each. 
Mr. McCormack, editor of the Woodland Echo, owns a stumpy field, 
that has been plowed for years in the same way, piling up the soil 
on the upper side (the field slopes westward and toward the pre- 
vailing wind), and plowing away from the lower side. He contracted 
to have the stumps removed for 50 cents each. The man who took 



200 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

the contract had some skill for the work and, perceiving the natural 
advantage of conditions, fired the stumps on the lower side only, re- 
sulting in his taking out the stumps for about 25 cents each. I could 
tell of dozens 'of men who have taken out stumps successfully by these 
methods. 

The principal thing is to adapt the method to local conditions of 
soil and climate. I believe I am justified in saying that it is more 
difficult to burn during the season of extreme rainfall Avhere soil 
is nor well drained, and that the sandy or gravelly soil burns just as 
well, if not better, then, perhaps because the sand packs 'or bakes 
better around the roots when wet, and also because there is better 
■draught in cooler weather. In our recent experiments Ave found sev- 
-eral roots not burned as deeply as they should have been in clay soil. 

"We have been experimenting with different fuels to find some- 
thing cheap and practicable for use in place of the wood on the ground 
for unfavorable seasons, and have found fuel oil very good. It costs 
but 90 cents a barrel if bought in quantities. This is the same fuel 
that is used by oil-burning locomotives, on steamboats, etc. We paid 
three dollars per barrel in small lots (single barrels), and used from 
-one to two gallons to each stump. Having previously prepared the 
stump by taking off the bark and digging away the surface soil about 
one foot out from the stump at the surface Avith the side of the trench 
sloping in toward the stump at the bottom, we first put in some saw- 
dust ; or in the absence of sawdust, used chips, small pieces of Avood 
and bark, making good ''kindling Avood" of it. The kindling is 
necessary for the purpose of furnishing the necessary heat to ignite the 
•oil, which, like coal, Avill not burn well until heated. We then pour 
the oil over the kindling, and with some Avood and bark OA'cr the 
top to hold the coA^ering up, we cover with clay, cinders or the soil 
around the stump, if fit for the purpose. We soon see the effect in the 
burning stump. AfterAvard, the care is about the same as with all 
methods. Keep the fire covered. We do not think it necessary to 
use the fuel oil in dry seasons, when aa'c can gather the material that 
Avill burn Avell. During the Avet season, hoAvcA^er, when all the wood 
on the ground is Avet, Ave think there is an advantage in some fuel of 
this kind. We must have a good start. 

Recently Ave have made some experiments Avith the view of reduc- 
ing the amount 'of fuel necessary to start. We selected stumps AA'^here 
two roots were located about the right distance apart for a fire betAveen 
them, and removing the bark, dug out a small hole between them about 
one foot deep. Then we bored an auger hole with a small auger 
from the opposite side of each root, boring doAvn and across the root 
so that the auger came out about half Avay doAvn betAveen the ground 



THE PROCESS OP' CHARPITTING 201 

line and the bottom of the hole we had dug in between the roots. We 
next started a fire in the pit, using not more kindling and wood than 
would be used to make a fire in a heating stove. All could be carried 
easily with one armful. This we covered with soil and started the fire. 

After several hours when the fuel had burned down to a bed of 
•coals we poured one pint of the fuel oil down each of the auger holes 
and covered it over lightly to prevent too strong a draught. We 
found the next da^^ that the stumps had been successfully fired. The 
advantage of the auger holes was that there was afforded the op- 
portunity to supply the fire with concentrated fuel without disturbing 
the cover, and the auger holes furnished a vent through and under 
the wet sap wood, absorbing the heat and preparing the wood for the 
fire to follow. 

Under favorable conditions, when we have a good clay soil and 
some good dry fuel at hand, it is not necessary to do any digging. 
Take away the bark and pile the fuel around the ])ase of the stump, 
generally not more than 12 or 15 inches high, and about as wide at 
the bottom. Arrange some kindling around in under the wood to 
lead the fire. We fill in all small openings at the top of this wood 
v^ith small pieces of chips, bark and rotten wet wood, or ferns, to 
prevent the soil from running between the stump and the fuel. Then 
we cover this with soil most conveniently at hand, leaving small space 
open on the side toward the wind so that when the fire is lighted in 
this opening, it will be l)lown into and under the fuel and covering. 
When the fire is well under the cover, close this space also. 

Now, what is the right amount of covering? I do not know that 
it will be possible to lay down any hard and fast rule. Every opera- 
tor must learn by experience. He must know something about the 
soil, experimenting to see how it works; and then he must know that 
it is necessary to have something under the cover besides fuel to 
make it ''burn down"; that is, conditions must be such that there 
will l)e a supply of oxygen. The miner knows that in driving a tun- 
nel, if the air is cooler outside than in the tunnel, the cold air will 
come in at the bottom and be warmed by coming in contact with the 
warmer material inside. Thus warmed, it becomes lighter inside, rises 
to the top, and the cold air coming in to fill the vacuum thus formed, 
starts a continuous flow in at the bottom and out at the top. 

So when we put this covering over our fire we purposely leave 
open spaces at the bottom. The air comes in and moves up to the 
fire with its full s^ore of oxygen.- For this reason the fire is always 
hotter and burning best at the bottom. The air minus the oxj^gen 
becomes heated, moves upward, and filters through the cover with the 
gases, and as the burning proceeds into the stump, we must keep the 



202 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

fire covered; when the top is burned off, we cover all over lightly, 
just enough to conserve the heat, but not so heavily as to prevent a 
movement of air through it. Thre will always be some low point 
where the cold air enters, and the colder the outer air is the greater 
will be the expansion when the air comes in contact with the heat 
inside the cover. This condition stimulates the draught, causing 
better burning. 

There is one guide which is quite reliable. When the fire comes 
through the covering, and hot, blue smoke issues forth, more cover is. 
necessary. If the smoke is dense and white, this means that it is. 
mostly steam and that the gases are escaping which is the correct 
condition. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. Do you stand the wood on end? 

A. We use the wood that we find at hand, using some of it long,. 
which must be laid slanting or flat. In some places the short wood is. 
set up on end, being easier to "fit" around the sharp angles of the 
protruding roots. However, we wish a fairly uniform amount of this, 
fuel so that it will burn out evenly and the cover will settle down 
uniformly. I think it a good plan to place some kindling all the way 
around the stump to lead the fire. If we can start the fire on the 
inside we will always have the stump exposed to the radiated heat, 
and as the wood is an absorbent of heat, we are preparing for the 
burning by getting it hot. 

I believe we will find it the better plan to fire our stumps in the 
morning, utilizing the afternoon in preparation. When fired in the 
morning our fires are well settled down before night, thus lessening- 
the danger of a break in the covering during the night, which would 
let all the heat escape. The first 24 hours is the most critical time. 
We usually go over our work with a lantern just before quitting for 
the night, and are out again early in the morning. This work is not 
hard, but rather exacting. We should give regular attention to it. 

Q. How long does it take a stump to burn out? 

A. The time varies. A stump will burn out quite completely in 
five or six days in some cases, and again, another stump will take as- 
many weeks. I think the difference is due in part to depth of cover,, 
condition and size of the stump. 

Q. Have you burned any of the hardwood stumps? 

A. We have not had much experience with them. Have fired 
hemlock successfully, however. I think I will tell you of a hemlock 
stump which has resisted several attempts to fire it. I secured some 



THE PROCESS OF CHARPITTIXG 203 

thirty-penny spikes, and selecting spots where the wood was best 
exposed to the fire, drove in a group of fire or six spikes in each spot, 
which was not larger than your hand. The heads of the spikes I left 
sticking out about an inch. Then I built my fires around and under, 
so that as the fire burned these spikes, the part of them exposed to 
the fire became heated. Iron being a good conductor of heat, the heat 
was conducted into the wood. The result was satisfactory, for the 
stump was fired. 

Q. How small a stump is practicable? 

A. In our experimental work we have thought that anything 
less than 15 inches in diameter had better be moved with a little 
powder or by horsepower, and sometimes a combination of both. 

Q. In clay soils, is it necessary to have a trench? 

A. It is not necessary, but in extremely wet conditions, a little 
surer, since if the stump is fired down lower, it is more likely to 
burn deeper. 

Q. Do you get the roots out? 

A. Yes. The fire works right down into the roots, and will do 
the work as thorough as any other method. Most of you know there 
are some roots left when you start the plow after any method of stump 
destruction. 

Q. In starting the fire, should it be started in more than one 
place? 

A. We have started in one place only, but think on large stumps 
two fires from opposite sides of the stumps would make for quicker 
results. 

Q. Should the fire be started on the side from which the wind 
blows ? 

A. Yes. Start the fire so that the wind will blow the fire toward 
the stump, thus driving it under the cover sooner. The fire will then 
follow around under the cover. 

Q. In sandy soil, should the clay be put over the wood as the 
fire burns it, or should it all be covered up? 

A. Cover this starting fire right up to the stump before firing. 
Never cover the top of the stump until the fire eats its way in. 
Keep the fire covered. 

Q. Is the same covering used for different soils? 

A. Yes. Use just the same for clay as for sandy soils. In 
sandy soils we must use the artificial covering. We have found coal 
cinders just as good as clay. Naturally we will use the covering 
that does the work best and is most convenient. 

Q. How long should the space where we start the fire be left 
open ? 



204 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

A. Until the fire is well started. Fifteen minntes to half an 
honr is usually enough. 

Q. Does the top of the stump fall over ? 

A. Yes, very rarely the top is burned up. 

Q. How about burning a green stump? 

A. "We have not had very much experience with green stumps, 
but have been told by those who have tried it that they burned very 
well when started. They are said to be a little more difficult to 
start. Chop through the sap wood in a few places. 

Q. When the top l)urns off, what follows? 

A. Always keep the fire covered. I think it is necessary after 
the first 24 hours to visit the stump each morning and night, dividing 
the time as nearly even as you can. Especially, go early in the morn- 
ing. Usually the fire will burn better at night than during the day. 
This is because the air is colder, and upon being warmed as it passes 
in to the fire, a stronger draught is created than if the outer air 
were warm. There are therefore liable to be holes in the covering 
which should be given attention early in the morning. 

Q. How old should stumps be to burn best? 

A. "We have burned them off all the way from 1 to 50 years 
after cutting. 

Q. Do they burn better after they are dry? 

A. Yes, it is easier to fire them when they are dry, hence it is 
easier to fire them in the dry seasons. I have successfully fired 
stumps over 50 years old which were remnants of old burns before 
the logging-off era. With some of these there were 6 to 12 inches of 
rotten wood on the outside which was so wet that water could be 
squeezed out by hand. We chopped through this in places, giving the 
fire a chance at the sound wood underneath. 

Q. Must the bark invariably be taken off? 

A. Yes. Usually it is very easy, but if it sticks, as it sometimes 
does on new stumps, it must be chopped away. Bark is a non-con- 
ductor of heat and full of air cells, and is made so by nature to protect 
the growing wood against the extremes of temperature. 

Q. How high should the bark be removed? 

A. Twelve to 15 inches will be sufficient. 

Q. After the stumps are fired, how many can one man care for? 

A. I have gone over 100 in half an hour. Sometimes it may 
take longer. Usually not much is to be done when the fire is started 
in properly. A shovelful over the fire here and there, pushing a 
little of the cover over the fire where it begins to show ahead of the 
cover, is the usual procedure. W. H. Booth, of Supena, Wash., burned 
out 603 stumps in nine weeks with the aid of two boys. 



THE PROCESS OF CHARPITTIXG 205 

Q. How would you keep the soil from falling into the fire for 
several days? 

A. Arrange the material so that it will not burn out in spots, or 
rather, so that it will burn evenly, settling with the cover all together. 
If this cannot be done, perhaps your soil is too sandy and inclined to 
run into the small openings when it gets hot. 

Q. I have about 300 stumps burning, but when the top falls, they 
stop burning. 

A. You probably have not followed your fire up closely enough 
with the cover, or possibly have covered too deeply. 

Q. Would there be any advantage in wire netting? 

A. I think not. I would not want to use anything of th^t kind, 
because I think it too rigid. We want this cover to be self-adjusting 
and loose, so it will follow up the fire. 

Q. In case one bores a hole, should it be covered? 

A. I would place something over it, but do not close it entirely. 

Q. Will clay soil be left in clinkers? 

A. There will be some in places, but not enough to do any 
material damage. 

Q. Would there be any advantage in using kerosene? 

A. Kerosene can be used for a starter, but it does not last. The 
fuel oil we use has about twice as much fixed carbon as the best 
anthracite coal. It burns slowly and steadily. 

Q. Have you ever tried charpitting in the red shot soil? 

A. Yes. I think it is all right. Most of the shot clay soils 
work well. 

Q. One would not have to have clay soil to work the process, 
would he ? 

A. No, not in the shot clay. 



The Small Farm and How to Make it Pay 

By Dr. James Withycombe, Director of the Experiment Station, 
Oregon Agricultural College. 



CD 



'Y purpose tonight is to speak about the possibilities of a small 

'farm. Oregon agriculture will be ultimately characterized by 
its small farms, intensively cultivated. This is due to a hospitable 
climate and a potential soil, readily responsive to intelligent methods 
of husbandry. The state, as a whole, and more especially some sec- 
tions, enjoy a very wide range of crop production. This of itself 
makes it highly adaptable for the small, but prosperous rural home. 

Economic production means prosperity. Thus when a few acres 
of soil are made to yield abundantly it brings comfort and content- 
ment to the owner. Under more intensive culture, which should be 
the logical accompaniment of the small farm, agricultural production 
would be greatly augmented. This will mean not only prosperity for 
the individual, but the community as well. 

All wealth practically originates in the soil, thus greater atten- 
tion should be given to soil conservation and the problems of crop 
production. Since our national wealth is so closely related to success- 
ful agriculture, it would seem that greater effort should be made to 
acquaint a larger proportion of our population with the fundamental, 
or at least elementary, principles of crop production. Agriculture 
should be more generally taught in the public schools of the state. 
It is a mistaken idea that this branch of instruction is suited for 
the country boy only. The city boys should know something of the 
farm and the problems of rural life. Often by reason of health 
and inclination they desire to engage in some branch of husbandry, 
but are precluded on account of a total lack of knowledge ©f the 
most simple things pertaining to the farm. ''Back to the soil" is a 
popular slogan, but it is dangerous to heed without some preparation 
to cope with rural conditions. The Avork of this association is greatly 
to be commended inasunich as it has not overlooked the importance 
of the farm in its great scheme of industrial education. 

There is another unoccupied field for agricultural instruction of 
an intensely practical type. This is a field worthy the consideration 
of the philanthropists. For example, a large body of land suitable 
for small farm homes may be secured and upon this departments of 
dairying, poultry husbandry, orcharding, truck gardening, and general 



208 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHM^EST 

farming be maintained ; the labor to be performed by young men from 
the city who desire to take up life upon the farm ; these men to receive 
a wage and board for their work with the understanding that they 
may secure ten or twenty acres for a home when they are ready to 
meet certain definite requirements which should be within the reach 
of any industrious, frugal young man. Such a farm, under a proper 
sj^^tem, should be self-supporting and intensely educational in a prac- 
tical way. It requires greater skill to successfully manage a small 
farm than it does a reasonably large one. Thus it is imperative that 
before a city young man undertakes to farm for himself, he should 
have some practical knowledge of the industry. 

The state has been wisely committed to the policy of supporting 
demonstration farms and experiment stations for which provision has 
already been made for the support of six. It would be well, however, 
whenever practical, for high schools to be established within easy 
reach of those farms in which work in agriculture is given. These 
farms would then have the dual purpose of demonstrating to the 
farmer correct systems of husbandry, and be a potent source of in- 
spiration and education to the high school student. So far as possible 
the state and county should co-operate in this work. Nothing will 
improve a rural community more quickly in a financial and social 
way than a general dissemination of correct information relating to 
agriculture. Technical knowledge is power only when it becomes dif- 
fused through industrial activities. 

Oregon is a magnificent state, rich in opportunities and possibili- 
ties. At present, however, there is grave danger of over-production 
in some directions. The virtues of much land are extolled for certain 
specific productions which really are of questionable adaptability. 
This is a serious mistake, and the reaction that in many cases will 
inevita])ly follow will be harmful to the best interests of the state. 
The purpose of this address, however, is to emphasize the small farm. 
As before stated, Oregon is destined to be the home of the small 
farmer. Ten acres Avill perhaps l)e the smallest unit for some time. 
This even appears as a very small farm to many. Rightly managed, 
ten acres of good typical land in the humid or irrigated sections of the 
state can be made to yield a good living for a family. It may be 
hazardous, however, for one to undertake to make a living upon 
ten acres of land without a well-grounded knowledge of local con- 
ditions. A larger unit would be better so that mistakes which are 
liable to occur would not bring such financial disaster. Upon a small 
farm a single mistake, or the failure of a single crop, may affect 
seriously the total income. The success of any farm, whether it be 
large or small, will depend largely upon the personal equation of the 



THE SMALL FARM AND HOW TO MAKE IT PAY 209 

owner or the one in charge. Some men will make a phenomenal 
success of the small farm while many others will make dismal fail- 
ures. It is doubtful if a single crop production will prove successful, 
but a little of several things coming in rotation, or products that 
bring in a constant revenue are better than the ordinary one-crop 
system. A few cows, poultry, and some fruit and vegetables should 
receive the attention of the small farmers. Not only is the constant 
revenue from this system an advantage, but it also affords continuous 
employment and the cows and poultry Mnll supply much valuable 
plant food for the different crops. It is especially important that the 
soil of a small farm be kept in a high state of fertility. 

A spirit of co-operation should be prevalent in a small-farm com- 
munity. This is especially necessary in team work. Each small farmer 
should have one good general purpose horse, which can do all the 
work except plowing and general preparation of the soil for crops. 
When plowing is to be done, it should be well done, and this requires 
at least a team of horses. It should be arranged to have the neigh- 
bor's horse assist in this work. There will be many instances where 
co-operation will be highly desirable. The investment in a high-class 
dairy sire should be under community co-operation. This same prin- 
ciple should enter largely into the general distribution of crops. Or- 
ganization and co-operation is the very life blood of a successful rural 
community. Without this it is doubtful if the small farmer can possi- 
bly reach the highest attainment in civilization and wealth. Co- 
operation in social and intellectual affairs is highly important, in fact. 
this spirit should thoroughly permeate every rural activity. 

The class of farming undertaken should be largely governed 
by soil adaptability and local market conditions, although a few cows 
and some poultry are practically indispensable for success. It is not 
to be expected that all of the feed for the poultry and other livestock 
is to be grown upon the farm. The grain and mill feed should be 
purchased, but this must be judiciously fed and fed only to stock that 
will give maximum returns for food consumed. The farm must also 
be made to produce the largest possible crops. Soiling must be prac- 
ticed for the cows and all by-products carefully conserved and utilized. 
The small farm must be made to grow steadily richer rather than 
poorer. It is a good maxim to follow upon the farm to keep nothing 
in the form of livestock but what is growing in value or yielding a 
revenue in service or production. The hens must be young and vig- 
orous, and the cows, not old and declining. 

It is impracticable to establish any definite rules for conducting 
the small farm. Systems must be worked out to meet local market 
conditions, adaptability of soil and other problems of interest must be 



210 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 




Interior of a Hood River apple packing house. 



considered. In a general way one acre should be utilized for the 
buildings, lawn and home garden; four acres should be devoted to the 
growing of hay for the livestock. For Western Oregon conditions this 
hay should be mainly clover. Four acres of good clover should yield 
15 tons of hay and furnish one month's pasture. One acre of tree 
fruits, comprising early fall and winter varieties of apples, Bartlett 
and winter pears. If the land is sandy, peaches may also be included. 
One acre of small fruits and vegetables; one acre of potatoes, two 
acres for growing summer forage and winter succulent feed for the 
cows. One acre of this should be planted to corn to be fed green 
after the clover pasture is done. The remaining acre should be planted 
one-half to kale and a fourth to mangels and a fourth to winter rye 
and vetch for early spring cutting. This series of crops should fur- 
nish, under good cultural methods, sufficient green feed and hay for 
four cows and one horse for one year. 

The gross returns from this system of farming should be approxi- 
mately as follows : 

Butter fat, 1,100 pounds at 32c per pound, $352; 24,000 pounds 
of skim milk at 30c per hundredweight, $72. This is estimating the 
food value for poultry, hogs or calves. Eggs from 200 hens, 2,000 
dozen at 28c per dozen, $560; potatoes, $100; fruit, $250; vegetables, 
$75; total gross income, $1,409. 



THE SMALL FARM AND HOW TO MAKE IT PAY 211 

Expenditures — Feed for poultry, $200 ; 5% tons of grain and mill 
feed for horse and cows at $28 per ton, $154 ; four tons of straw at $5 
per ton, $20. Total cost of feed and bedding, $374^ thus leaving a 
balance on the right side of the ledger of $1,035. From this, of course, 
should be deducted the cost of seed, depreciation in value of horse and 
cows, spray material, repairs to buildings and fences, blacksmithing, 
interest upon the investment, taxes, etc., which would aggregate about 
$165. This would leave a net balance of $870. It is understood that 
the owner and his family does all of the labor on the farm. This is not 
a large income, but indicates that a good living may be made upon 
ten acres of land when well managed. The cost of living upon a 
small farm will be appreciably less than in the city. Wood will cost 
less, water is free, and the home garden will supply all the vegetables 
for the family. 

It should be definitely understood at the outset, however, that the 
smaller the farm unit the greater skill is required for its successful 
operation. Also that single-crop production, as a general rule, is not 
the best system to follow upon a small acreage. This, of course, will 
depend more or less upon local conditions. For example ; If the 
land is peculiarly adapted for such special crops as onions, horseradish, 
asparagus, or celery, it may be advisable to make the growing of 
these a specialty. The one great objection, however, to these special 
crops is the want of general distribution of labor recpiirements upon 
the farm. Systems that require more or less constant labor are better. 
This also insures, as before stated, a steady return. The income 
should be constant from month to month upon the small farm. 

The small farm community has many advantages over more 
sparsely settled agricultural districts. Social opportunities are much 
better. The problem of good roads is more easily solved. Country 
life under such conditions more nearly represents urban life. It 
combines the opportunity to enjoy the health and vigor of rural life 
and the social and educational advantages of the city. The small 
farm is destined to solve the problems of country life. It is here we 
shall find our sturdy, intelligent and patriotic citizenship. 

Questions and Answers. 

Q. How about irrigation for your ten acres? 

A. These clay soils are hard to handle with irrigation. Volcanic 
ash soils are all right for irrigation. 

Q. Is there not some soil west of Roseburg that is rather poor? 

A. Up there in the hills the soil is all right and can stand irri- 
gation. 



212 APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 

Q. On ten acres one would need a team of horses and have 
four cows to pasture? 

A. Turn the cows on your pasture about a month each year, 
then feed them on your kale and buy your mill feed. 

Q. What do you estimate the returns on ten acres? 

A. I think about $1,500. There will be about $550 for expenses, 
which should leave about $950 net. 

Q. Does a cow need range? 

A. If you have a lot, that is all that is necessary. At the college 
we have cows that have not been pastured for five years. 

Q. What would one raise for chickens? 

A. I would not raise feed for chickens. One gets so much plant 
food from the poultry to keep up the land, he can afford to purchase 
the feed. If one has poultry of the Mediterranean breeds, they will 
hiy at least ten dozen eggs per hen, and average 2,000 dozen eggs. At 
the average price of 26 and 28 cents per dozen in this market, this 
wouhl amount to over $500. 

Q. Would not apples bring a good deal more? 

A. They may some years, but when frosts come as sometimes 
happens there will be no apples. 

Q. Mr. Mason, of Hood Eiver, stated here that his average for 
five years was $500 per acre. 

A. I would not start on that kind of a proposition. That record 
was made under exceptional conditions. 

Q. Can alfalfa be raised on red shot soil? 

A. One must test his land. Alfalfa will not grow on acid soil. 
One can correct the acid with lime, and then it will be all right. One 
would be surprised at the amount of alfalfa that can be grown here 
in the valley on unirrigated land. We cut the crop four times. 

Q. Doesn't alfalfa exhaust the soil very rapidly? 

A. It does if one sells his alfalfa. If he feeds it to his cows, it 
does not exhaust it. It takes a good deal of potash, phosphate and 
lime, 

Q. Is air-slaked lime of value to the soil? 

A. It is the only means of correcting acid. 

Q. How much should one use to the acre? 

A. About 500 pounds. Lime is not needed except for special 
crops. 

Q. Do you consider it of any value for fruits? 

A. I am not a horticulturist and cannot say, ])ut I should not 
tliiuk it would do any harm. 

Q. Will red-shot soil grow sweet potatoes? 

A. I think it is too far north up here. 



THE SMALL. FABM AND HOW TO MAKE IT PAY 213 

Q. You haven't said anything about the hog. 

A. Hogs are all right, but I would not want too many on the 
farm. Hogs are to go more with grain farms on a large scale. Poultry- 
will consume your food more profitably than hogs. Depend on the 
cow. Of course I am a cow man and see things through a cow spe- 
cialist's eyes, but I know that the cow produces $14,000,000 worth of 
wealth in Oregon. 

Q. Would you separate for four cows? 

A. Yes, unless you sell the milk to a condensary, but as a rule 
it pays better to sell butter fat rather than milk. 

Q. "What valuation of the ten acres are you figuring on? 

A. I am figuring on about $1,500. About $500 in a house and 
$200 in a barn for four cows and the horse. An able-bodied man can 
build a pretty nice cottage for $500 or $600. 

Q. Don't you think it would be profitable on a small place to 
raise a few hogs for a person's own use? 

A. That would be all right, but it is better to sell the hog and 
buy your own meat. There is great waste in butchering hogs in the 
country. Since the country has gotten so settled up there is oppor- 
tunity to get fresh meat all the time. Two great packers are getting 
rich out of the by-products. They have been able to save everything 
but the squeal. 

Q. What would be the cost of cows, etc.? 

A. The cows would cost about $50; chickens about $1 each. 
Cows are good for about 12 years. Hens should be replaced every 
year. A horse is good for 20 years. 

Q. What would be the necessary investment on a ten-acre farm? 

A. About $125 per acre for the land, $750 for the buildings, and 
then the cost of your stock, making a total of about $3,000. Roughly 
speaking, this starts one nicely so he can make a good living. 

Q. Do you advocate keeping bees? 

A. Yes, a few stands of bees are all right. 

Q. Would you consider Guernsey-Jersey good for butter fat 
production ? 

A. I would not cross the breeds. 

Q. How is Jersey-Durham? 

A. That is trying to produce beef and milk. I would grade up 
the Jersey. 

Q. What breed of chickens do you recommend? 

A. The laying breeds, such as the Minorcas or Leghorns. 

Q. What vegetables would you plant? 

A. That would depend upon j-our market conditions. 

Q. How do loganberries do? 



214 



APPLE GROWING IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 







Bianeh of apples from Pullman, Washington. 

A. They do reniarkablj^ Avell and bring good retnrns. They are 
going to grow in popularity. A fruit juice is being made from the 
loganberry that is very popular. 

Q. How about tomatoes? 

A. This is not a tomato country. We cannot compete with the 
warmer sections. The nights are too cold. 

Q. How about celery? 

A. Celery is all right. 

Q. Would you tile land? 

A. The greater portion of the Willamette Valley land should be 
tiled. Land should be tiled three and one-half feet deep and 150 to 
250 feet apart. Most of the Washington County farms are tile drained. 
Tliese tiles average about 300 feet apart. 

Q. Would you use a silo? 



THE SMALL FARM AND HOW TO iSIAKE IT PAY 



215 



A. I would not use a silo in Western Oregon. I would recom- 
mend kale instead. A silo is too expensive to maintain on a smaii 
farm. One ton of kale is worth two tons of silage. 

Q. Does kale exhaust the soil? 

Yes, but the cow will put it back again. She fattens the 



A. 

ground. 

Q. 

A. 



Would YOU recommend buying day-old chicks? 
That is all right. It is quite an industry in California, but 
be sure to get stock that you can depend on. 
Q. Does the college sell them? 

A. We do not sell them. Prof. Dryden is working a plan of 
setting four hens, and when the chicks come off, they are given to two 
of the hens and the other two are put back to lay again. 
Q. How do you apply the droppings from the hens? 
A. Just mix them Avith soil and sow that broadcast over the 
ground. Use about half and half of soil and droppings. Fifty hens 
will fertilize an acre of orchard. 

Q. Do you set the kale plants out? 

A. Sow them like cabbage, then set them out three feet apart. 
They will stand a temperature anywhere from ten above zero. 
Q. Don't these tile drains soon fill up. 
No, they remain open indefinitely. 
There is some of the white land that does not seem to produce 



A. 

Q- 

much ? 
A. 



All that it needs is drainage. There is no land in the valley 



that will require closer than 150-foot tiling. 




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